UK Energy Minister Michael Shanks visited UK-funded energy projects in Ukraine and said a decentralized renewables network would strengthen the country's national security. He said widely dispersed wind farms and solar panels were much harder to target than large-scale fossil fuel power stations.

"It's a really important visit for me to see firsthand the impact that Russia's attacks on energy infrastructure have had and are having in Ukraine, and meet those who are helping to rebuild that infrastructure and build even greater resilience into the Ukrainian energy system," Shanks said during the trip.

"We can learn a huge amount in the UK from what Ukraine is doing. They are building decarbonised infrastructure across the country because solar and wind and batteries are much harder to target than large scale power stations. They're doing it at a pace I'd like to be doing it at in the UK as well," he said.

Shanks said the UK was dealing with a more complex threat environment. "We are dealing with a far more complex threat landscape than we've ever dealt with before. That's true in the UK, it's true across Europe," he said.

"Building a decentralised power system with a whole series of assets is less of a risk of physical attack than large-scale power stations. Moving towards clean power is the best way to deliver our energy security in an increasingly uncertain world," he said.

He said the government was responding with a national plan for energy security and was working on resilience at every part of the energy system, including the grid and individual projects, covering both cybersecurity and physical security. He also said work had been done to protect undersea cables from attack, and that nuclear power, including small modular reactors, would play a part in moving off fossil fuels.

Wind farms and solar panels are not vulnerable to supply shocks such as those affecting oil due to the US-Israel war on Iran and those affecting gas due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Conservatives and Reform UK have pushed for more drilling in the North Sea rather than investment in renewables. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, advised against issuing new commercial exploration licences and said potential new fields such as Rosebank and Jackdaw would make little difference to the UK's energy security or energy prices.

Retired lieutenant general Richard Nugee linked low-carbon energy to defense. "To have a strong military deterrence, we need a resilient homeland. If we want to build a resilient country, low-carbon energy is a very important component," he said.

Governments from at least 56 countries are meeting in Colombia for the world's first conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels, with a scientific panel convening on how countries can wean themselves off fossil fuels.