Government pledges to green the public sector as part of new ten point plan for net zero
The government has set out a £12bn “Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution” to accelerate the shift towards net zero by 2050. Covering clean energy, transport, nature and innovative technologies, the government says the plans will create and support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs.
As well as major clean energy investments in hydrogen and carbon capture, the plans include a pledge to green up public sector buildings, particularly in relation to heat. It has set a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028, but details on how to meet this target have still to be clarified.
The ten point plan – at a glance
1. Offshore wind:
Producing enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we produce to 40GW by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs.
2. Hydrogen:
Working with industry aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade..
3. Nuclear:
Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source: £525 million will be invested to help develop large and smaller-scale nuclear plants, and research and develop new advanced modular reactors.
4. Electric vehicles:
Backing car manufacturing bases including in the West Midlands, North East and North Wales to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, and transforming the UK’s national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles.
5. Homes and public buildings:
£1 billion next year into making new and existing homes and public buildings more efficient, by extending the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme by a year and setting a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.
6. Public transport, cycling and walking:
Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport of the future.
7. Jet Zero and greener maritime:
Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.
8. Carbon capture:
Carbon capture: Becoming a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030
9. Nature:
Protecting and restoring the UK’s natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year, whilst creating and retaining thousands of jobs.
10. Innovation and finance:
Developing the cutting-edge technologies needed to reach these new energy ambitions and make the City of London the global centre of green finance.
