On 18 December 2020, the government issued a white paper on energy reform, which marked the third substantial green infrastructure announcement made by the government in almost as many weeks. On 18 November 2020, the Prime Minister had unveiled his ten-point plan for a so-called 'green industrial revolution' which laid the foundations for the white paper, announcing among other things:
- plans to make the City of London the global centre for green finance
- the creation of up to 250,000 highly skilled green jobs
- a quadrupling of offshore wind electricity generation capacity by 2030
- the increasing of hydrogen production capacity
- plans to make homes, schools and hospitals greener; and
- the establishment early-stage carbon capture and storage in two different clusters by the mid-2020s, with two further clusters by 2030.
A week later, on 25 November 2020, the Chancellor of the Exchequer unveiled his spending review. In his speech, the Chancellor emphasised the need for a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and also stressed the need to 'level up' the country, committing to increase national infrastructure spending in the north.
The white paper contains a number of exciting proposals, which are intended to entirely reshape British industry and the economy.
Learn more here
