The UK government has revealed a £960 million ($1.2 billion) investment plan for green industries, focusing on key net zero sectors. This initiative, part of a larger £4.5 billion package for strategic manufacturing sectors from 2025 to 2030, aims to accelerate manufacturing in areas such as offshore wind, electricity networks, nuclear, CCUS, and hydrogen. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt emphasized the targeted investments to maintain competitiveness and attract an estimated £2 billion additional investment annually over the next decade.
While climate-focused measures were welcomed by sustainable investment groups, criticisms were raised for not fully addressing major clean energy initiatives like the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and the EU’s Green Industrial Plan. UKSIF Chief Executive James Alexander highlighted the need for a more comprehensive response to secure global leadership in the transition to a sustainable future.
In addition to the financial commitments, Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho introduced power network reforms to expedite electrification. The reforms include measures to reduce the time for building high-voltage power lines from 14 to 7 years and connecting projects to the grid from 5 years to just 6 months. These reforms address concerns about the slow rollout and underinvestment in electricity grids, which pose significant barriers to achieving global climate goals.
Coutinho emphasized the radical plans to update the grid, aiming to meet the expanding electricity needs that are expected to double by 2050 as the country moves towards reliable, home-grown energy sources. The reforms align with the urgency outlined in an International Energy Agency (IEA) report, which stressed the need for global investment and the addition or replacement of 80 million kilometers of power lines by 2040 to meet Paris Agreement goals and accommodate the rising deployment of renewable energy capacity.
By FCCT Editorial Team
, an independent military force, and allied militias in Sudan raped several dozen women and girls in West Darfur’s capital, El Geneina, and those fleeing to Chad between late April and late June 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. The assailants appear to have targeted people because of their Massalit ethnicity and, in some cases, because they were known activists.){kind=link}