Changing Political Winds Can Electrify the UK Economy
How the 2024 election reshaped green ambitions across the United Kingdom.
In our last episode we reviewed the UK election manifestos, with the help of Carbon Brief’s Dr Simon Evans, and then waited with baited breath for the results. The outcome was as predicted by multiple weeks of polling: a big win for Labour, with tactical voting helping to decimate the Conservative seat count, as they lost to Labour, the Liberal Democrats and a new right-wing party, Reform.
On energy and climate there is now a clear path ahead for the new Labour government that will deliver multiple benefits: first, build more clean electricity, second, use that electricity to kick our fossil habit throughout the economy, third, commit to phasing down our fossil fuel production, and, fourth work internationally to get the world onto this path as quickly as possible.
Ed Miliband, now Secretary of State for energy and net zero, wasted no time in starting to enact this plan. Three days into the job, he unblocked the last government’s planning restrictions that killed the construction of on-shore wind projects - the UK’s cheapest source of clean power.
The next steps should be increasing the pace of electrification in transport - more EVs will mean reduced oil imports and also provide ways to soak up extra supply of electricity that might otherwise be spilled at times of high production.
As we will discuss in our next episode, focused on transport, the policy to drive this - the Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate - is already in place. The task now is to withstand any self-interested calls to water it down and to work out how to get high quality, affordable electric cars into the hands of those who will benefit the most: car-dependent, high-mileage drivers.
Electrifying heating and cooling will need to follow - with a crucial first step being to sort out the regulatory framework to provide clear operating standards that will protect customers and remove unnecessary red tape currently preventing mass adoption. In parallel, as confidence grows that we can move beyond fossil fuels, we can then expect the manifesto pledge of ceasing to provide new licences for fossil fuels to be upheld and for this policy to become a clear focus of international climate diplomacy.
The UK has led the world in building a homegrown clean electricity system, and Labour is committed to completing that process by 2030. The UK can, through mass electrification, become predominantly energy independent, with the whole economy driven by homegrown energy: wind, water, solar and nuclear.
This transition is made easier because the fossil fuel combustion system is hugely inefficient. Electrical processes are commonly three to four times more efficient than their fossil counterparts. A heat pump, for example, harnesses three to four units of energy from the environment from one unit of electricity input. Efficiency drives lower operating costs and higher productivity, and with it greater economic growth, another priority of the new governments.
It’s time to unite government departments in a clear common goal: a whole-economy electrification implementation strategy. It’s a huge prize. The energy system made vastly more efficient, every sector modernised, no longer polluting, and no longer reliant on imports from distant, unreliable and despotic states. Electricity really is the future for every sector, and this new government can step up to unlock it.
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