The UK's green economy has been put in the spotlight since the budget announcement at the start of 2023. This is due to the government’s plan of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and its efforts to drive the development and adoption of clean technologies in order to tackle climate change.
The budget announced a £12 billion fund for green projects, including a £1 billion investment into electric vehicles (EVs). This follows reports from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) that the Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate requirements may be increased. The mandate will require manufacturers to ensure a proportion of their car sales are electric, which is expected to help achieve carbon emission targets.
However, progress in establishing EV production bases in the UK has been slow so far. BritishVolt collapsed into administration in February, while Recharge Industries - which is buying out BritishVolt - has suggested that it may focus on batteries for buildings and grid operators before providing EV packs.
Nevertheless, there are still major opportunities arising from building EVs within Britain’s borders. For example, this could enable an increase in regional job creation and economic growth through localised supply chains, with ECIU stating that production in the UK could be lower-emission across the product life-cycle.
More broadly, investments into renewable energy sources have also seen significant developments over recent years. In 2020 alone, new offshore wind capacity doubled with over 9 GW being added - compared to 4 GW being installed during 2019. This rise was mainly driven by proposed subsidies but also owing to longer lifespans of turbines and increased availability of energy storage technology such as hydrogen power plants. These investments are helping provide more secure and affordable electricity supplies for consumers as well as reducing carbon emissions associated with energy generation.
The Budget also provided funding towards research and development into hydrogen technologies; this is expected to create up to 250 jobs each year and support up to 8,000 jobs indirectly related to low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030. Similarly, some of the funds will go towards financing ‘green skills’ training programmes over 2021-22; this includes apprenticeships to train people primarily aged between 18-24 years old who want a career within environmental fields such as renewable energy or carbon capture storage (CCS). Such initiatives should help support more sustainable practices within industry sectors as well as providing young graduates with purposeful employment opportunities on their career paths towards becoming green professionals.
In conclusion then, despite some setbacks around EV manufacturing in particular; overall it appears that there has been meaningful progress made since the 2023 Budget announcement when it comes to investing into green technologies and initiatives throughout Britain's economy. It seems likely that these will make a real impact on decarbonisation targets long term if they continue on this trajectory going forward. To keep up with further developments in the CleanTech Industry, follow our page > INNOVATE CLEANTECH
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