British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt prefers to “target public funding strategically in areas where the UK has a clear competitive advantage”.
UK Finance Secretary Jeremy Hunt has criticized market ‘distortions’ caused by massive US green energy subsidies, but announcements from London on its own energy and environment strategy, which push back new funding until the autumn, are a long way off to convince. “Transforming our energy system is no longer just regarding fighting climate change, it’s also a matter of national security,” said Jeremy Hunt Thursday in a column published by the daily. The Timesalso pointing to the “threats of protectionism” in the global economy.
Soaring oil prices in the wake of the war in Ukraine hit the United Kingdom, which is highly dependent on gas, particularly hard. Jeremy Hunt assured British MPs on Wednesday that the government was studying possible measures to help the country remain “competitive”, but that we would have to wait for the autumn budget presentation to know the details.
“We are not going to face our friends and allies in a global race for subsidies”, which generate a “distortion” of the market, he said Thursday, while the climate plan of the American president Joe Biden and his billions of dollars to attract business worries in Europe.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer specifies that the United Kingdom will prefer to “target public funding strategically in areas where the United Kingdom has a clear competitive advantage”.
Recycling already public measures for environmental NGOs
While waiting for the details of this funding in the fall, with the country’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050 in sight, the announcements made by the government on Thursday disappointed opposition such as environmental NGOs, which accuse the executive recycling of already public measures. “These announcements are above all remarkable for their glaring omissions” on onshore wind power, the insulation of homes or the response to Washington’s climate plan, denounced the opposition Labor deputy in charge of energy issues Ed Miliband.
The government notably reemphasized on Thursday a number of measures already announced, such as an investment of 20 billion pounds over 20 years in carbon capture and its desire to accelerate the development of nuclear and renewable energies. “These fragmentary, heated and confusing announcements are simply not enough to effectively combat climate change or provide safe and affordable energy to households,” Greenpeace said in a statement.
“These plans seem lame, half-hearted and dangerously lacking in ambition,” Friends of the Earth said.
The NGO says it will comb through announcements regarding the government’s carbon neutral strategy and might take legal action “if ministers have failed yet once more”.
A risk of soaring business spending
“Private investment will be crucial to achieve the carbon neutrality target” which will require additional investments “of 50 to 60 billion pounds by the end of the 2020s and the 2030s”, acknowledged the government in a document , also published on Thursday, on its green finance strategy. London states in particular that the transition is “a growth opportunity for the United Kingdom”. But if the government “has grasped the scale of the climate challenge with a major plan to stimulate the production of green energy”, it “must not forget the companies” who will see their expenses soar to meet the objectives of reduction in energy consumption, warn the British Chambers of Commerce.
London also launched consultations on Thursday in several areas (zero-emission vehicles, acceleration of renewable energy projects, carbon tax) and announced the first supported projects, in particular, in the field of carbon capture. The electricity company Drax, whose use of biomass to green its production is criticized, is not one of these first winners, but says it has “been invited to immediately start discussions” with the government. After initially falling, its share price rebounded strongly on Thursday (+6.09% to 609.50 pence around 3:25 p.m. GMT).
A report by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), a body responsible for advising the government on its climate strategy, affirmed for its part on Wednesday that despite the already clearly visible consequences, the United Kingdom has not made sufficient efforts to prepare for the countries to adapt to global warming.
