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Summary
- The UK Government has come up with a 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution
- In 2018, the UK government had launched a clean growth fund to increase direct investments in clean technology and reduce GHG emissions.
One of the major concerns our planet is having today is of climate change. Environmental degradation has forced people to shift towards the concept of sustainable development. Introducing green and clean technology, which will help improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption, is the key to fight the menace of climate change.
Green and clean technology include a wide range of environment friendly products as well as infrastructure, like waste recycling, water purification, clean energy production, products to conserve natural resources and even repair the damage done in the past to the environment.
UK’s 10 point plan
In 2020, the UK Government came up with a 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution with the aim to build back better after the UK economy has been impacted negatively by the pandemic. A sum of around £12 billion will be invested by the government into the plan, and 3 times more than this amount is expected to be invested by the private sector, leading to the creation of approximately 250,000 jobs.
The plan focuses on offshore wind, low carbon hydrogen, advanced nuclear power, green public transport and zero emission vehicles, green buildings, green ships, carbon storage etc.
UK government funding
In 2018, the UK government had launched a clean growth fund to increase direct investments in clean technology and reduce GHG emissions. With an ambition to reach £100 million, the £40 million fund comprised of £20 million from BEIS and the rest from CCLA, which is a private institutional investor.
Recently, in March 2021, as part of the £1 bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio of the UK Government, over £90 million has been assigned to support green technologies. The 3 key areas of investment include biomass production, offshore wind energy and energy storage technology. This will help in achieving the targets under UK’s 10-point plan.
Out of the £92 million, £68 million will be invested in energy storage technology, like storing energy from wind turbines and solar panels. £20 million will be invested in floating offshore wind technology, with the aim to supply power through wind energy to every home in UK by 2030. The remaining £4 million will be invested in biomass production to support local jobs and economies and also move towards green energy consumption by producing sustainably sourced biomass.
To support the green industrial revolution in UK, the government in May 2021, announced £166.5 million cash boost for the development of critically needed green technology, which includes carbon capture, greenhouse gas removal and hydrogen. For the businesses that rely heavily on energy usage, like Tate & Lyle Plc (LON: TATE), BAE Systems Plc (LON:BA.) and Celsa Manufacturing, this package has been brought with the aim of reducing the costs of business and also create 60,000+ green jobs across UK.
UK budget 2021
In the UK Budget, the government announced that it would create an infrastructure bank and green finance schemes to support the power industry in the production of renewable energy. With an initial capital of £12bn, the infrastructure bank is expected to support £40 bn of total infrastructure investment. The government also announced sovereign green bonds to allow the citizens to invest in renewable energy projects. Offshore wind energy has been given a key priority as UK already has a comparative advantage in this sector globally, and it can be used to achieve the target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
The aim of these investments is to support innovators, businesses and heavy industries across the UK to increase energy efficiency and transition to a green economy. The UK has ambitious targets of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and cutting emissions by 78% by 2035 as compared to the base year 1990.
