Public Affairs environment news:
10-point plan special

Greenhouse Public Affairs provides a weekly public affairs environment news round-up across sectors including agriculture, finance and the environment. This week is a special edition covering the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s 10-point plan. Sign up to our public affairs weekly round-up here.

10-point plan

The Prime Minister has unveiled his Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. You can read the full plan here.

1. Offshore wind: Producing enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we produce to 40GW by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs.
2. Hydrogen: Working with industry aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.
3. Nuclear: Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source, across large scale nuclear and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors, which could support 10,000 jobs.
4. Electric vehicles: Backing our world-leading car manufacturing bases including in the West Midlands, North East and North Wales to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, and transforming our national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles.
5. Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport of the future.
6. Jet Zero and greener maritime: Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.
7. Homes and public buildings: Making our homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, whilst creating 50,000 jobs by 2030, and a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.
8. Carbon capture: Becoming a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber today.
9. Nature: Protecting and restoring our natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year, whilst creating and retaining thousands of jobs.
10. Innovation and finance: Developing the cutting-edge technologies needed to reach these new energy ambitions and make the City of London the global centre of green finance.

Responses

Lord Deben, Chairman of the Climate Change Committee, said: “Today, the Prime Minister has laid out his vision for a Net Zero UK. I am delighted to see the breadth of the Prime Minister’s commitment. This must now be turned into a detailed road map – so we all know what’s coming down the track in the years ahead. Our homes, the way we travel, our industries, our land, and all of us individually have a role to play as we strive to lead the world in tackling climate change.”

Ed Miliband MP, Labour’s Shadow Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary, said: “The funding in this long-awaited announcement doesn’t remotely meet the scale of what is needed to tackle the unemployment emergency and climate emergency we are facing, and pales in comparison to the tens of billions committed by France and Germany. Only a fraction of the funding announced today is new. We don’t need rebadged funding pots and reheated pledges, but an ambitious plan that meets the scale of the task we are facing and creates jobs now.  Make no mistake – this announcement from the Government falls well short of what is required.”

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP, said: “This is a shopping list, not a plan to address the climate emergency, and it commits only a fraction of the necessary resources. Of course, there are some measures to welcome like bringing forward the date to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars to 2030. But in the context of the scale of the climate and nature emergencies, it’s nowhere near ambitious enough, urgent enough and bold enough. It looks as though only £4 billion of this will be new funding – a fraction of what the government is planning to plough into a new £27 billion roadbuilding project. It’s a fraction of the £36 billion that Germany is investing in its green stimulus. And it doesn’t do anything to challenge a relentless focus on a form of economic growth that is damaging people’s health and wellbeing, as well as the health of the environment.” 

Emma Pinchbeck, Energy UK’s chief executive, said: “We can only reach the Net Zero target with efforts on all fronts, so we welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment in the 10 Point Plan today. The energy industry will power delivery on most of the Prime Minister’s bold targets, like those for electric vehicles, heat pumps, and energy efficiency – and on the investment in technologies, like hydrogen, nuclear and wind. Businesses see the massive potential for showing global leadership on the green economy as we also host the UN climate change negotiations in 2021 and rebuild after the pandemic.”

Josh Hardie, Acting CBI Director-General, said: “This plan represents a clear statement of intent from the government. It gives a springboard to the huge opportunities for UK-wide investment and green jobs that a true low-carbon economy can bring. Now government and business must join forces to create clear pathways for sectors and communities to decarbonise, making the most of the diverse range of skills and expertise that exist in regions across the country. Some proposals, including the phase out date for new petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles, are undoubtedly challenging. The promise of additional funding for the purchase and manufacture of zero emission vehicles, and the roll-out of charge points across the country are welcome. More ambitious policy may be needed to support jobs in sectors such as automotive and deliver a fair, green transition.”

Patrick Begg, Outdoors and Natural Resources Director at the National Trust, said: “The National Trust and many others have called for a green recovery and this is a bit of good news. New resources to help the catastrophic decline in habitats and species are welcome, particularly if they are linked to spurring a green economic recovery following the pandemic. A £40 million fund is a good start. And in future we will need further, deeper commitments to achieve the goals set out in the Government’s 25-year plan for the environment: environmental legislation and a planning system that is equal to the task, well-resourced and robust regulators and billions of pounds invested in the green economy over the next decade.”

If you would like to talk to us about political engagement and public affairs, email us at public.affairs@greenhousepr.co.uk