UK Government announces plan for a Green Industrial Revolution

Today the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set out the Government’s ten point plan for what it is calling the green industrial revolution. This is part of the blueprint for the UK to meet the legally-binding target to produce net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The ten points of the plan are:

1. Offshore wind – increasing power generation by offshore wind to 40GW by 2030, which the Government states is enough to power every home in the UK.
2. Hydrogen – aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by the end of the decade by investing £500 million (of which £240 million is for new hydrogen production facilities). The Government is looking to trial the use of hydrogen for home heating and cooking, with a Hydrogen Neighbourhood in 2023, a Hydrogen Village by 2025 with the aim of the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by 2030.
3. Nuclear – advancing nuclear as a clean energy source with an allocation of £525 million to develop nuclear plants and research and develop new advanced modular reactors.
4. Electric vehicles – accelerating the transition to electric vehicles by banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans at the end of the decade. Hybrid cars and vans that can drive a significant distance with no carbon emitted by the vehicle can continue to be sold until 2035.

The funding announcements in this area include: £1.3 billion to accelerate the rollout of chargepoints for electric vehicles in England; £582 million in grants for those buying zero or low-emission vehicles; and nearly £500 million for the development and mass-scale production of electric vehicle batteries.

5. Public transport, cycling and walking – encouraging cycling and walking by making these modes of transport more attractive and investing in zero-emission public transport.
6. Jet Zero and greener maritime – research projects for zero-emission planes and ships with £20 million of funding for a competition to develop clean maritime technology.
7. Homes and public buildings – making new and existing homes, schools and hospitals greener and more energy efficient by spending £1 billion in 2021. The Government has a target to install 600,000 heat pumps annually by 2028. The Green Homes Grant voucher scheme will be extended by one year.
8. Carbon capture – targeting the removal of 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030. The Government has pledged £200 million of new funding to create two carbon capture clusters by the middle of the decade and a further two by 2030.
9. Nature – planting 30,000 hectares of trees per year.
10. Innovation and finance – developing the required new technologies to implement all of these plans and making the City of London the global centre of green finance.

According to the Government, the plan will create and support up to 250,000 jobs in the UK. It is reported that £4 billion is new funding of the £12 billion the Government says it will spend on the plan.

Herbert Smith Freehills will continue to follow these plans closely. Follow the HSF Energy Notes blog for further articles on these areas.