Whatever you can say about Boris’s reign as Prime Minister, he was anything but boring.
We are down to two candidates in the race to succeed him, one of whom will be declared PM by 5th September. Once elected we’ll get a clearer view of the direction of policy and the impact it will have on our lives.
One thing is clear, each of the candidates in their recent hustings to the Conservative party MPs has indicated their commitment to the UK’s decarbonisation programme and targets, to a larger or lesser intent.
When temperature records are broken by 1.5 degrees in less than a few years, we all sense that climate change is impacting the way we live here and now. The best way to mitigate its impact, for our children and future generation, is to continue to take small immediate steps in reducing our carbon emissions which will compound to great effect over the coming years.
The UK was the first country in the world to declare legally binding carbon reduction commitments in the 2008 climate change act.
A lot has happened since then, the decarbonisation of the electrical grid, a significant increase in renewable energy investment and a huge cross-section of public and private sector organisations committing to net zero carbon scope 1, 2 and 3 dates.
We’ve seen decarbonisation and climate change resilience becoming board issues for public and private sector clients over the recent years and with the recent spike in energy prices, energy management, costs and resilience are firmly back on the agenda for all Finance Directors and their C suite colleagues.
I’ve set out below what our team hope the new PM will set as their climate change priorities, to help to decarbonise our economy
- Continue with the public sector decarbonisation grant and debt funding support, via PSDS, Salix and other schemes
- Ensure enhanced capital allowances are maximised for energy efficient and renewable investments, for all
- Support the residential sector to decarbonise by looking at grant and tax support for fabric and heat pump investments
- Continue to support our world class university sector to invest in the research and development required to develop climate change step-change interventions
So, fingers crossed that “dishy Rishi” or “cheese and pork Lizzy” can see the writing on the wall, the huge opportunity for the UK to develop a world class green tech sector and take the steps to grasp this opportunity and help us all.
If you’d like some help to start, or accelerate, your decarbonisation and route to net zero carbon get in touch [email protected] for an informal discussion.
John O’Brien
Founder and MD
