Budget: Government’s green policy ‘stuck in the fossil fuel era’
The government’s Budget announcement to focus on nuclear energy – re-branding it as ‘sustainable’ – has been criticised as ‘20th century economic orthodoxy’ and ‘stuck in the fossil fuel era’.
In today’s statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the launch of Great British Nuclear (GBN), “to address constraints in the nuclear market and support new nuclear builds as we work towards our net zero goals”.
But Bruce Davis, co-founder and joint managing director of crowd bond platform Abundance, which invests in green and sustainable projects, accused the government of living in the past.
“The Treasury is still fixated on technologies which hark back to the fossil fuel era,” he said. “If the chancellor wanted to ease the hard path to growth he would encourage investment in proven renewable technologies such as onshore wind and solar which can provide long term jobs and sustainable growth to all the regions of the UK.”
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Davis, who also lobbies on behalf of the peer-to-peer lending industry in his role as director of the UK Crowdfunding Association, added: “There is a danger that 20th century economic orthodoxy will blind us to the solutions that can deliver a 21st century green economy.”
According to the Treasury’s Budget statement, “GBN will launch the first staged competition for Small Modular Reactors, with an ambition to select the leading technologies by the end of this year and if demonstrated to be viable we will co-fund this new technology for the UK”.
It added that nuclear energy will also be included in ‘the green taxonomy’, subject to consultation, encouraging private investment.
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In the Budget, the government also announced it will provide up to £20bn of funding for early deployment of Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS), to help meet the government’s climate commitments.
“This unprecedented level of funding for the will unlock private investment and job creation across the UK, particularly on the East Coast and in the North West of England and North Wales,” it said. “It will also kick-start the delivery of subsequent phases of this new sustainable industry in the UK, taking advantage of the country’s natural comparative advantage in CCUS.”
A shortlist of projects for the first phase of CCUS deployment will be announced later in March, the Treasury said.
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