Security

and Net Zero publishes Powering Up Britain report

On 30th March, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) published its policy paper, titled ‘Powering Up Britain’, setting out government’s plans to enhance Great Britain’s energy security, seize the economic opportunities of the transition to climate neutrality, and deliver on its net zero commitments.

The DESNZ also published the government’s response to the recommendations made in the Independent Review of Net Zero, led by former Energy Minister Chris Skidmore MP, expressing agreement that decisive action is needed to seize the growth opportunity that net zero presents in the 21st century. To meet the ambitions set out in the ‘Powering Up Britain’ policy paper, the DESNZ will aim to deliver:

• Energy security: setting the UK on a path to greater energy independence.

• Consumer security: bringing bills down, and keeping them affordable, and making wholesale electricity prices among the cheapest in Europe.

• Climate security: supporting industry to move away from expensive and dirty fossil fuels.

• Economic security: playing our part in reducing inflation and boosting growth, delivering high skilled jobs for the future.

New measures to tackle UK emissions include the introduction of a zero-emission vehicle mandate which would require that from 2024 an increasing percentage of manufacturers’ new car and van sales are zero emission, and a new Green Finance Strategy The government has also indicated its commitment to carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), announcing that eight projects have been chosen to proceed to the next stage of support negotiations. It further announced that fifteen hydrogen projects have progressed to the next application round for funding under the £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund. Ambitions also include that of ramping up nuclear capacity to up to 24GW by 2050, developing up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030, quintupling solar power by 2035 and phasing out all new and replacement natural gas boilers by 2035 at the latest. A revised set of energy national policy statements for consultation, covering overarching energy, renewables, electricity networks, gas generation, and pipelines, will be published in due course.

The ‘Powering Up Britain’ report can be accessed at www.gov.uk/ government/publications/poweringup-britain. The report acts as an introduction to ‘Powering Up Britain: Energy Security Plan’ and ‘Powering Up Britain: Net Zero Growth Plan’, both of which are complementary and should be read alongside each other.