Boris Johnson has revealed the UK Government’s Ten Point Plan to ensure that we can meet our net zero target by 2050. With £12bn in funding announced to support the Plan, and the Government aiming to secure three times as much funding from the private sector, it is hoped that it will support up to 250,000 ‘green’ jobs.

The Plan focuses on key areas such as decarbonising our transportation system, improving the efficiency of homes and public buildings, as well as protecting and restoring our natural environment. Funding will also be distributed across a number of technologies, including offshore wind, nuclear, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen deployment. You can read the full Ten Point Plan here.

The Government claims the plan will reduce emissions by 180 million tonnes between 2023 and 2032, the equivalent to taking all of today’s cars off the road for around two years. However, this is only around 50% of the emissions cuts required to meet the Fourth and Fifth carbon budgets and therefore the upcoming Energy White Paper¹Â is likely to contain further support and sectoral plans for reaching net zero.

Within the Ten Point Plan, the Government has brought the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles forward to 2030, from the previous deadline of 2035.

In order to smooth the transition, they have committed £1.3 billion to accelerate the rollout of EV charge points and £582 million in grants to encourage the adoption of zero or ultra-low emission vehicles. A further £500 million will go towards developing and scaling up the production of batteries by 2025, and there will be a consultation on the optimum path for phasing out new diesel HGVs. To find out more about the transition to EVs, click here.

The Government has also pledged to invest £1 billion in the next year to make homes and public buildings more efficient, which they claim will support around 50,000 ‘green’ jobs by 2030.

 

Schools, hospitals, and public buildings will receive support to become more efficient in the form of extra funding for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, while the Green Homes Grant will be extended for another year to help homeowners to improve the efficiency of their homes. The Government has also set an ambitious target of installing 600,000 heat pump installations per year by 2028. In putting these measures in place, they believe that they can reduce the UK’s emissions by 16% (based on 2018 levels)¹.

To find out more about the new investment in building efficiency, click here.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has pledged £10 million towards a Green New Deal, which is intended to create new jobs in the capital in sectors including clean energy.

The Green New Deal includes investment in three key areas, including decarbonising London homes, supporting the use of green transport and walking/cycling, and establishing two new ‘green foundations’ groups to support the growth of new and existing businesses in the green economy. Funding will go to green, London-based businesses, with a focus on SMEs, BAME-led and female-led enterprises. To find out more about London’s Green New Deal, click here.

The Government reaffirmed its commitment to the Ten Point Plan and released a new National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS) in the Chancellor’s Spending Review last week. The NIS includes the creation of a new National Infrastructure Bank, which will fund projects that are designed to help the UK reach its net zero emissions target by 2050.

Funding for green infrastructure initiatives were announced in the Ten Point Plan earlier this month but we look forward to the publication of the Energy White Paper, which we believe will provide greater clarity on the Government’s plans for how we will achieve net zero.

 

You can read the full National Infrastructure Strategy document here.

If you have any questions about the changes discussed above or how they might affect your business, our team of experts is on hand to answer them. Simply call us on 0330 053 8620 or email us at heretohelp@brytenergy.co.uk.