Johnson unveils his 10-point plan for net zero

Targets to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028 and create 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 are included in Boris Johnson’s long-awaited 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution”.

The decarbonisation blueprint also includes a £1 billion boost to extend the Green Homes Grant voucher energy efficiency and low-carbon heat scheme by one year from its original cut-off point next March.

The prime minister’s plan also sets a target to create the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by 2030 as part of a wider goal to boost production of the low-carbon gas to 5GW by the same date.

Up to £500 million has been earmarked for investment in hydrogen, £240 million of which will next year go into new production facilities.

The low-carbon gas will be trialled for heating and cooking with a target to create the first Hydrogen Neighbourhood in 2023.

It is then due to be rolled out on a village-wide basis by 2025 with the first Hydrogen Town, containing tens of thousands of homes to be established by the end of the decade.

Alongside this effort to boost hydrogen, the plan contains an extra £200 million of investment in carbon, capture and storage (CCS).

The money, which is on top of the £800 million already earmarked for the technology, will be used to create two carbon capture clusters by the mid-2020s and another two by 2030.

The clusters are designed to help to deliver the government’s goal to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030, equivalent to the entire emissions of the industrial Humber.

The plan has also earmarked £525 million of investment in developing nuclear plants and supporting research and development in new advanced modular reactors.

To help deliver the government’s new target to ban the sale of internal combustion engine cars and vans by 2030, the prime minister has announced £1.3 billion to accelerate the rollout of electric vehicle charge points. A further £582 million in grants will be available for those buying zero or ultra-low emission vehicles but the sale of hybrid cars will be allowed until 2035.

Johnson has claimed that the ten-point plan will create 250,000 green jobs, including 50,000 apiece in CCS and retrofitting homes.

He said: “Although this year has taken a very different path to the one we expected, I haven’t lost sight of our ambitious plans to level up across the country. My Ten Point Plan will create, support and protect hundreds of thousands of green jobs, whilst making strides towards net zero by 2050.

“Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales, so we can look ahead to a more prosperous, greener future.”

Reaction

Energy UK chief executive Emma Pinchbeck: “We can only reach the net zero target with efforts on all fronts, so we welcome the prime minister’s commitment in the ten 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.”

Lord Stern, chair of the London School of Economics Grantham Institute and author of the government’s 2006 climate change review: “The ten priority areas of the plan cover many of the key areas of the economy that can generate jobs and create a new kind of sustainable and inclusive growth across the UK.

“The new investments will both reduce our emissions and help to drive economic growth, if implemented rapidly and purposively. They constitute a crucial next step in a process of radical change towards a much more attractive form of economic development. The UK must accelerate strongly from here in the coming two or three years. Time is of the essence. It is important that the forthcoming Spending Review brings policies and financial structures to support these investments and to help create a more efficient and productive, zero-emissions and climate-resilient economy.”

Nicola Shaw, director at National Grid: “The prime minister has set out great ambition for the net zero transition including commitments on offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage. We also welcome the earlier ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles and the support for the rollout of electric vehicles which will help improve the country’s air quality. Now, industry and government must work together to turn this ambition into reality, with transformational investments to deliver real change, which will create jobs in every part of the country.”

David Smith, chief executive at Energy Networks Association: “The prime minister’s ambitious plan brings together the key elements that will help us to take effective climate action and deliver a green economic recovery. We not only welcome the plans to turbocharge the roll-out of electric vehicles, level-up offshore wind, and commit to a hydrogen bonanza, but look forward to delivering them – supporting skilled, green jobs and cutting the country’s emissions at best value and least disruption to the public.”

Dr Jonathan Marshall, head of analysis at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said the plan ticked off “a number of the major policy decisions needed to get the UK demonstrably back on track to its net zero target”.

But he added: “However, gaps still remain. Onshore wind and solar energy remain unsupported, long shots such as modular nuclear power and direct air capture may not pay off, and natural solutions to climate change – planting trees and restoring peat bogs – remain largely overlooked and ignored.”

Luke Murphy, head of the IPPR environmental justice commission also gave a cautious welcome, saying clarity was needed on how the policies will be funded.

“… What has been announced does not yet amount to the action and investment that is needed to get the UK on track for net zero and restore nature. IPPR analysis has shown that the government is currently only investing a little over a tenth of the funds needed to meet net zero and restore nature, and what is being announced today will not bridge the gap.

“The government must quickly bring forward a full plan to deliver a fair transition to net zero. This must include a net zero and nature rule, so that every new policy meets our wider environmental objectives, and a skills strategy to support workers in carbon intensive industries and the young unemployed to move into clean and well-paid jobs.

“While the new investment today is welcome, the government must also commit to investing the full £33 billion that is needed each year to meet our climate goals. For instance, the target for the delivery of 600,000 heat pumps is welcome but is not underpinned by either the strategy or investment that is required to deliver it. The investment planned for sustainable public transport and nature are also still significantly short of what is needed.”

As part of our Build Back Better campaign, Utility Week produced a special report on The Green Recovery – exploring the significant role utilities will play in the path to net zero.