Dear Constituent,
Thank you for your email about climate change.
The Government recognises the importance of climate action and I welcome that the UK was the first G7 country to legislate to achieve net zero by 2050 and is decarbonising faster than G7 countries. Progress is being made but as the Prime Minister set out there needs to be a pragmatic approach.
For too long the political discussion around “Net Zero” has been driven by emotion and goals with little space for questioning about the costs to families and the benefits of pragmatism. The Prime Minister put protecting British family budgets at the centre of his plans and at the same time was able to reiterate that the UK will meet its climate change targets embedded in law, or in international treaties.
But pragmatism, not ideology was evident in many of his announcements:
- No ban on new oil and gas in the North Sea. A ban makes negligible difference to our climate goals but would undermine our energy security.
- No new taxes on flights. Many families like the option to have their holidays in Spain, Greece or further afield. The government shouldn’t tax away their opportunity.
- Delay to the ban on petrol and diesel vehicles. As the EU has already done.
- An exemption for millions of homes that would find decarbonising their home heating either impossible or exorbitantly expensive.
At my town hall meetings across the constituency this past year, I have been calling for more pragmatism in the Net Zero debate. The Prime Minister made a big step to shift the parameters of the political debate and in so doing, I believe, made it more likely that we will make progress.
If you have not seen it, there is helpful independent data in the following Twitter post issued by No 10 and the graphs set out some useful background information - (1) UK Prime Minister on X: "Today we're adopting a new approach to Net Zero that is pragmatic, proportionate and realistic – meeting upcoming targets without adding burdens to working families. We have led on reducing emissions faster than any other major economy. A thread🧵 https://t.co/ndGZAMq000" / X (twitter.com)
Although I appreciate that there is still much work to be done, it is important to recognise, in my view, the work that has been done and the plans to accelerate the progress made to date. For example, the UK is a world leader in renewables and in nuclear power. The UK has the world’s largest, as well as the second, third and fourth largest operational offshore wind farm. We are building more floating offshore wind than any other country in the world. The UK has built over half of the world’s tidal power and is currently building two of the world’s most powerful nuclear reactors.
We have over 10,000 onshore wind farm installations and 1.3 million solar installations. This is a similar amount to France, despite the UK being half their physical size and having less favourable weather conditions.
In 2010, the UK’s renewables accounted for less than 7% of our electricity, but now they account for over 40% of the UK’s electricity all of which is helping us decarbonise faster than any other G7 country whilst growing our economy. These are just some of the measures which have been taken (and there are others) as part of the programme of delivering the statutory commitment to reach net zero by 2050.
Although I appreciate that there is still substantial progress to be made in the necessary goal of meeting net zero, I do think that it is important to list some of the steps already taken and which continue to be taken. I do not accept the criticism that has been levelled in the past that the Government has not been focussed on these issues and listed below are some of the steps which are already helping us move toward the net zero target:
- Carbon dioxide emissions have reduced by 30 per cent since 2010.
- The UK was the first country to legislate for net zero by 2050.
- We have increased the proportion of UK electricity generated by renewables fourfold. The proportion of electricity generated by renewables was over 40 per cent in 2022.
- The total wind generating capacity increased by 19 GW from 5.4 GW in 2010 to 28 GW in 2022.(Wind Powered Electricity in the UK, gov.uk, link; Energy Trends, gov.uk)
- The Government’s Energy Security Strategy sets out plans to accelerate the deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen, while supporting the production of domestic oil and gas in the nearer term. This could see 95 per cent of electricity being low carbon by 2030.
- The Government has introduced a new ambition to produce up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030 – more than enough to power every home in the UK – of which up to 5GW will come from floating offshore wind sites in deeper seas.
- The Government is also looking to increase the UK’s current solar capacity, which could grow up to 5 times by 2035, and aims to double our ambition for low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030. On solar, I am particularly keen on the Government moving forward with better provision for rooftop solar - Richard becomes CPRE Rooftop Solar Champion | Richard Fuller
- The Government’s new Energy Security Strategy will see the acceleration of nuclear power, aiming to produce up to 24GW by 2050, which could mean delivering up to eight reactors, equivalent to one reactor a year instead of one a decade.
- The use of coal in the UK has reduced across the power sector, with coal accounting for only 1.5 per cent of the UK’s electricity mix in 2022, compared with 40 per cent almost a decade ago.
- The Government introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains.
I believe that the Prime Minister was right to adopt a more pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach to meeting net zero that eases the burdens on working people. We can do this because over the last decade, we have over-delivered on our targets with the fastest reduction in emissions in the G7, down almost 50 per cent compared to 1990. This is compared to just 22 per cent for France, no change for the US, and an increase for China of 300 per cent. There have also been technological advances which have reduced costs (such as offshore wind costs down by 70 per cent more than we projected in 2016), and higher than forecast adoption of clean technologies like electric vehicles.
The UK is responsible for just under 1% of the world’s emissions and it is therefore important that we support other nations with the net zero plans, where that is necessary. The Government is delivering on doubling International Climate Finance spend to £11.6 billion between April 2021 and March 2026, compared with the previous five-year commitment of £5.8 billion between April 2016 and March 2021. In addition:
- The UK pledged to commit £1.5 billion over five years to support the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, including up to £300 million intended for the Amazon rainforest.
- The UK has committed £90 million to the conservation of the Congo Basin, a vital rainforest which is home to some 10,000 species of tropical plants and several endangered species.
Over the last 10 years, UK funding has:
- Provided 41 million people with improved access to clean energy, including connections to off-grid renewable energy sources, access to solar lanterns, or clean cookstoves.
- Installed 2,400 MW of clean energy capacity, equivalent to 500 offshore wind turbines, capable of powering 1.8 million UK homes.
- Avoided or reduced 180 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Leveraged £3.3 billion of private finance and £5.2 billion of public finance for climate change purposes.
Ministers are bolstering domestic renewable energy production through the Energy Security Strategy, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/british-energy-security-strategy. This sets out plans to accelerate the deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen, while supporting the production of domestic oil and gas in the nearer term – which could see 95 per cent of electricity being low carbon by 2030.
The publication of the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution lays the blueprint for how we can achieve net zero and, further, the Energy White Paper made clear the Government’s commitment to clean energy sources, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ten-point-plan-for-a-green-industrial-revolution
In relation to oil, in my view, we cannot simply stop using fossil fuels overnight without this having huge consequences all over Europe. However, the Government is going to make better use of the oil and gas in the UK by giving the energy fields of the North Sea a new lease of life making sure we are not reliant on expensive, foreign imports while at the same time continuing to accelerate renewables.
The recently introduced Energy Prices Act 2022 includes powers to address the link between high global gas prices and the cost of low-carbon electricity, allowing consumers to benefit from the ‘green dividend’ of low-priced clean energy. The Government has also launched the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/review-of-electricity-market-arrangements. It considers a range of enduring reforms, including: increasing investment in low-carbon capacity; making gas-fired generation the price-setter for electricity less often; and reforms to the wholesale market so that volatile gas prices do not set the price of cheaper renewables, with the intended effect of decoupling gas and electricity prices.
I was also pleased to see last week’s announcement of an additional £1 billion in funding to help those with the least energy efficient homes to improve the efficiency of their homes, save money and reduce emissions - Apply for support from the Great British Insulation Scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Prime Minister’s announcement enables us to retain our focus on these vital issues, to build on the progress made to date and ensure that future progress continues in the drive to net zero.
I apologise for the length of my reply, and I accept that there are still significant steps to be taken to continue our efforts to reach net zero, but in view of the importance of the issue and the range of concerns often raised with me about different aspects of climate and energy policy, I wanted to provide the fullest possible response. If you would like to discuss the position further, I would be pleased to do so during one of my regular surgeries. Details are contained in the following link: Surgeries and Town Hall Meetings | Richard Fuller
Thank you for getting in touch.
Sincerely,
