The UK government has unveiled a new strategy to decarbonise economy, tackle climate change and boost the UK’s low carbon economy.
Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Claire Perry, has said that the government will help businesses to increase energy productivity by at least 20% by 2030, which would help businesses to save £6bn.
The Minister said the UK needs to decarbonise and improve how business is done in the future, including substantial new investment in leading edge innovation.
Perry explained that the UK’s low carbon economy could grow over 10 to 12% per year up to 2030 – four times faster than the growth of the UK economy as a whole.
She stated, that by that estimate that would mean – in just 13 years – the UK’s low carbon economy would support up to 2 million more jobs and export up to £170bn low carbon goods and services each year.
Perry commented: “We’ve already seen this happen, whether it’s the Siemens wind turbine blade factory in Hull or Nissan confirming that their Leaf electric car will be produced in Sunderland.
“Like I said: a win-win situation right across the country, one that we are exploiting.”
New about this plan is, according to Perry, that the government will focus in the future on:
- cleaner air from low emissions vehicles
- lower energy bills from improved energy efficiency
- reducing waste and using resources efficiently
- creating a more biodiverse, resilient natural environment.
The Minister said: “It is also a true cross-government approach – with real actions from buildings to transport, and from the natural environment to power generation.
“And at the heart of our Strategy is a targeted focus on innovation. Because I fundamentally believe that it is only through innovation that we can bring down the costs of low carbon technologies.”
The Minister added: “But – just as important – if we can develop the low cost, low carbon technologies here, we can capture the industrial and economic advantage from the global transition we are starting to see.
“Finally, if we want to see other countries, particularly developing countries, follow our lead, we need low carbon technologies to be cheap.”
Perry stated in her public announcement as well that the UK has a good chance to develop world-leading technologies in a sizable global market.
Perry added: “Of course, we can’t predict every technological breakthrough – if we’d have done that a few years ago, we would have been wrong – and not all of the choices we make will be the right ones.
“That is the nature of working with such fast moving technologies. But we are determined to create the best possible ecosystem for the private sector to invest and innovate.
“If we get it right, we can see the benefits, just as we have on offshore wind, and the remarkable cost reduction we have seen where the costs have plummeted 50% in just two years. And we have installed the biggest offshore wind base in the world.
“To achieve these sorts of wins going forward and deliver the clean growth we need, it will require everyone to play their part.”
