News focus: net zero

How the UK will transition to net zero

The Net Zero Strategy describes the government’s policies and proposals in all areas of the economy to keep the UK on track to achieve its decarbonisation vision.

The government says it’s making the decisions that are needed now to drive investment in new low-carbon technologies. As these develop, it says it will continue to test its approaches so that it can decide how to scale up to reach its 2050 zero emissions target.

The policies and proposals

Power

The UK will be powered entirely by clean electricity by 2035, says the government, subject to security of supply. It aims to do this through a combination of technologies: nuclear, including new small modular reactors as well as a large-scale nuclear plant, offshore and onshore wind and solar. All this will be underpinned by flexibility, including storage, gas with CCS, and hydrogen, all designed to help avoid price spikes.

Fuel supply and hydrogen

5GW of hydrogen production capacity has been targeted by 2030, and emissions halved from oil and gas. Current gas prices spikes underline the need to get off hydrocarbons as quickly as possible, it says.

A new Industrial Decarbonisation and Hydrogen Revenue Support (IDHRS) scheme will fund new hydrogen and industrial carbon capture business models.

Industry

Hydrogen, carbon capture and renewable energy will accelerate decarbonisation in clusters around the UK, accounting for around half of the UK’s industrial emissions.

Heat and Buildings

By 2035, all new heating appliances installed in homes and workplaces will be low-carbon technologies such as heat pumps or hydrogen boilers. But this will be a gradual transition and no decision on the future of hydrogen heating will be made until 2026. No new gas boilers will be sold by 2035.

The government expects the cost of heat pumps to fall quickly and hopes they will be as cheap to buy and run as a gas boiler by the end of this decade.

It’s also considering rebalancing energy costs by removing levies away from gas and re-allocating them to electricity, so lowering electricity bills for consumers.

Transport

The government has already committed to stop sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and says all cars must be ‘zero emissions-capable’ by 2035.

There will be zero-emission vehicle grants and funding for electric vehicle infrastructure, with a focus on residential street charging, as well as money to support the electrification of vehicles and supply chains.

Four thousand new zeroemission buses and a net-zero rail network are targeted for 2050, with all diesel-only trains removed by 2040.

It’s also expanding zero emission road freight trials.

In the air, the government says it’s kickstarting the commercialisation of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) with funding to develop plants, and an ambition of 10 per cent SAF by 2030.

Natural resources

Farmers will receive support for low-carbon farming to increase productivity and enable more efficient use of land, such as through agroforestry.

Around 280,000 hectares of peat in England will be restored by 2050, and more woodlands will be planted, up to 30,000 hectares a year by the end of this Parliament.

There will also be funding for local authorities to collect food waste from all homes from 2025.

Greenhouse gas removals

The government acknowledges the difficulty of removing residual emissions from the hardest-todecarbonise sectors, including aviation, agriculture and industry. It’s proposing that greenhouse gas removals will be supported initially by the government before moving towards a market-based framework.

Supporting the transition

At least £1.5 billion of funding will be behind the drive to net-zero, with the aim of supporting the ‘innovation chain’ to reduce costs and support key technologies and ideas to meet net zero. The government says it will work with the private sector to provide the finance needed, back training and skills, support workers to retrain and upskill, and build low-carbon industries.

It says it will reform the skills system so that training providers, employers and learners are incentivised and equipped to deliver the transition to net zero.

A new Sustainability Disclosures Regime will enforce mandatory climate-related financial disclosures, and the government also says it will publish an update every year against set targets to achieve its climate goals. ■