MP calls for 'clearer direction' to encourage green investment
An MP has called on the government to provide a clearer direction to encourage green investment after £166.5m funding was announced to help the country become carbon neutral.
The funding, which is part of the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, aims to accelerate delivery of the new technologies needed to drive Britain’s climate change ambitions, as well as creating over 60,000 jobs across the UK. This includes developing technologies in carbon capture, greenhouse gas removal and hydrogen, while also helping find solutions to decarbonise the UK’s polluting sectors including manufacturing, steel, energy and waste.
Ludlow MP Philip Dunne, who is Chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee, commented that while this funding is welcome, the government needs to provide much clearer direction to encourage green investment. He said: “While today’s announcement of £166.5m to fund new green technology is an important step in the right direction, the government needs urgently to outline its overall strategy for attracting both public and private sector investment in green technology. Without this, businesses and innovators will struggle to understand the ground rules for future investment decisions, which will seriously impede our ability to develop the technologies required to reach net-zero by 2050.”
The government is committed to meeting the UK’s legally binding target of achieving net zero by 2050, as well as a target of reducing UK emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.
