400 Years of Coal, Energy Security, and the Power of Capital

Two stories appeared in the news recently. Read together, they tell a powerful story about the direction of energy and the role capital plays in shaping it.

The first: UK greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.4% in 2025[1], reaching their lowest level in more than 150 years. Coal use has fallen to levels not seen since the early 1600s — when Guy Fawkes was plotting the Gunpowder Plot and Shakespeare was writing Hamlet. Gas consumption has also declined to its lowest level since the early 1990s.

Whatever your view on the pace of change, the numbers show that the UK’s energy system is already evolving. Renewable generation, particularly wind and solar, now plays a far larger role in the national energy mix than it did even a decade ago.

The second story: geopolitical tensions in the Middle East disrupted liquefied natural gas infrastructure and shipping routes, contributing to a sharp rise in European gas prices within a single trading session. In a global energy market, events thousands of miles away can quickly translate into higher costs for households and businesses in the UK.

Taken together, these two developments highlight something important.

Fossil fuels are not only an environmental challenge; they are also a source of economic and geopolitical vulnerability. Energy systems that rely heavily on imported fuels — whether piped gas or globally traded LNG — remain exposed to supply disruptions, political tensions, and sudden price movements.

By contrast, energy generated domestically from renewable sources can reduce exposure to some of these global shocks. Wind farms in the North Sea, solar generation across the UK, improved insulation, and electrified heating systems are not just environmental developments; they can also contribute to greater long-term energy resilience.

This is one of the reasons the transition toward cleaner energy has attracted significant global investment. The progress we are seeing in emissions reductions and renewable generation did not happen by accident. It reflects sustained investment from governments, institutions, and private investors who believe the future energy system will look different from the one that powered the twentieth century.

In recent years, some renewable energy companies have experienced periods of market volatility, which has prompted debate about the strength of the investment case. As with any sector undergoing rapid structural change, short-term market performance can vary. However, many long-term investors continue to view the transition of the global energy system as one of the defining economic shifts of our time.

For investors allocating substantial capital over decades rather than quarters, structural trends such as energy security, electrification, and decarbonisation increasingly form part of the broader investment conversation.

Capital, when deployed thoughtfully, does more than seek financial returns. It helps shape the infrastructure, technologies, and systems that will underpin the next phase of economic development.

In that sense, investment capital has the potential to be a powerful force — supporting innovation, improving resilience, and helping build systems designed for the world as it is today, rather than the world as it was in the past.

At Path, we work with investors and families who are thinking carefully about how their capital is positioned for the long term. Many are interested in aligning their portfolios with the structural changes reshaping the global economy — including the transformation of the energy system.