New research from Giki's specialist climate and SME analysts shows geopolitical conflict and extreme weather are turning energy price volatility from an occasional shock into a recurring fact of business life. The report, How SMEs Can Protect Against Energy Price Shocks, finds that many of the most effective responses to the 'new normal' cut carbon as well as costs. In addition, in many cases there are quick, low-cost wins available too to SMEs.
Since the end of 2025, fuel prices have risen more than 25%*, driven by conflict in the Middle East, layering a fresh shock on top of the one many SMEs are still absorbing from the Ukraine war. With extreme weather events also now driving sharp short-term price spikes, the report argues these are no longer isolated events but a recurring risk that the UK's 5.5 million SMEs need to plan for, not just react to.
The report is based on analysis of all major sectors across the UK economy, assessing energy vulnerability across four dimensions, and draws on exhaustive analysis of the Giki Actions library, over 750 proven decarbonisation actions across more than 190 sectors. From this, the report identifies 120 actions specifically relevant to protecting against energy price shocks, split between immediate, no-cost quick wins and longer-term capital investments.
While some sectors are far more exposed than others, the report finds that every business, whatever its size or sector, has options available to protect itself, often starting today and at no cost.
The actions that protect your margin are usually the same ones that cut your carbon footprint.
Key Findings
- Energy shocks are becoming the rule, not the exception: geopolitical conflict and extreme climate events are increasingly compounding one another, meaning volatility is now a recurring risk for SMEs to plan around rather than a one-off to absorb and forget.
- Quick wins exist for every business, not just investment: of the 120 actions identified, a significant share require no capital outlay at all — only changed habits and behaviour. Simple facility walk-arounds such as an "Energy Treasure Hunt" have helped companies cut energy use by more than 5% at zero cost.
- Cutting costs and cutting carbon go together: reducing energy consumption today or investing in green solutions for the future both cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce bills. This is not a coincidence, but a consistent pattern across the actions analysed.
- Exposure varies sharply by sector: Farming, Food & Drink, and Transport & Logistics face the greatest combined pressure, driven by high energy use, thin margins and limited ability to pass on costs. Professional services, software and financial services are far less exposed, with lower direct energy costs and stronger pricing power.
Actions businesses can take
Actions that businesses can take to shield themselves now and in future split into three key areas:
Quick Wins: Efficiency & Behaviour Change — Actions that reduce the amount of energy consumed through efficiency improvements and behavioural change. Typically the quickest to implement, lowest in cost, and most immediately felt on the bill, many cost nothing at all.
Future Proofers: Structural Capital Decisions — Longer-term capital decisions that change energy patterns fundamentally: deep retrofits, electrification of processes, onsite renewable generation. These take longer and require more resource but deliver the most permanent and substantial change. The cost of future proofing is falling, whilst the cost of inaction is rising.
Enablers: Practical Foundations — The least appreciated group, but they form the practical foundations that make other changes possible. Installing smart meters, training staff, creating policies. These actions may not deliver immediate savings themselves, but without them the larger opportunities are harder to find and harder to act on.
Energy price shocks used to feel like rare, one-off events. With geopolitical conflict and climate volatility increasingly colliding, they are becoming part of the normal operating environment for SMEs. The encouraging finding from our research is that businesses don't have to choose between protecting their bottom line and protecting the planet, in the great majority of cases, the same action does both, and a large number of them cost nothing to start.
— James Hand, Giki co-founder
Guy Watts, owner of Architectural Plants, has already made changes that have benefitted his award-winning nursery and garden design business in Sussex:
Funding and grants are often available from local authorities, and we received one from Horsham District Council which helped us install solar panels. This gave us a double benefit: we started to generate our own power, saving on energy bills, and it also enabled us to begin the transition of our Garden Design vehicles to electric, powered by our own solar. This has meant we are significantly less reliant on mains energy, associated energy price changes and benefit from a reduced fuel bill.
— Guy Watts, Architectural Plants
Methodology
We assessed 24 sectors across the UK economy across four dimensions:
- direct energy costs,
- indirect exposure through supply chains,
- the ability to pass costs on to customers, and
- typical margins.
The 120 actions identified were drawn from the Giki Actions library and selected for their relevance to energy cost reduction, exposure to volatile energy prices, and carbon emission reduction potential.
*Source: Giki, 'How SMEs Can Protect Against Energy Price Shocks' (June 2026). Fuel price data based on UK Government weekly road fuel prices; gas prices based on natural gas wholesale prices from the start of the Iran conflict to end May 2026.