UK should become global leader in climate action - CBI
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16:35 19/04/24
The UK should take more action in the fight against climate change and become a global leader on the matter, the CBI Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn will say on Monday.
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Speaking at the CBI’s first virtual Net-Zero Conference, where she will launch the CBI’s Green Recovery Roadmap, Carolyn will say “action speaks a thousand times louder than words”.
In a call on the government to take ambitious steps in the fight against climate change, she said there should be new regulations imposed nationally to help reach the target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
The roadmap recommendations from the CBI include publishing the much-anticipated Energy White Paper and National Infrastructure Strategy this autumn to unlock business investment.
It also recommends using the autumn budget to prioritise public spending on low carbon projects and game-changing technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture. The government could also use these projects to stimulate the economy in a sustainable way and generate new employment opportunities.
The Green Recovery Roadmap outlines six priorities for the UK:
Accelerate the delivery of electric vehicle charging points and introduce a net-zero mobility credit scheme, alongside Government funding for a UK-based Gigafactory (battery manufacturing for electric vehicles).
Lifting the cap on auctions for renewable power and introduce a financing model to encourage domestic and international business investment in new nuclear capacity.
Become a world leader in carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology – by introducing a privately-financed Regulated Asset Base model and developing plans for an auction mechanism for CCUS.
At least £1bn of Government funding for hydrogen testing programmes and introduce a variant of the Contracts for Difference auction for the production of hydrogen.
Create an Office for Sustainable Aviation Fuels to secure the development of low-carbon alternatives and commit £500m of matched public-private funding (£1 billion in total) to support the UK’s first commercial sustainable fuel plant.
Deliver jobs and energy savings by retrofitting homes and buildings to be more energy efficient and switch to low-carbon heating. And for Government to publish its Heat and Buildings Strategy.
Dame Carolyn Fairbairn is expected to say: “For so many, this feels like a time of fiercely competing goals. The world faces two seemingly separate yet fundamental problems. Covid-19 – the biggest health crisis in living memory and climate change – the defining challenge of the modern era.
“But they are not separate. The response to one affects success on the other. And the defining question is, how does the UK use this moment to rebuild our economy and the greener and stronger world we want to return to.”