28/03/2023 | Offshore wind

Labour is right to raise the bar on the UK’s green growth ambitions

28 March 2023 - RenewableUK press release


Responding to today’s speech by the Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero Ed Miliband, RenewableUK’s Head of Public Affairs Nathan Bennett said:


“Ed Miliband is right to say that green technology offers all of us an enormous opportunity to build a new economy for the twenty-first century, filled with new investment and jobs.


“The US and EU are tempting renewable energy developers and supply chain companies with financial incentives which simply aren’t being matched by the UK Government. We need to raise our game if we want to ensure that the billions of pounds of private investment expected in clean energy - and the new factories and jobs underpinning it - come to the UK rather than going to competitor countries.


“Ed Miliband is right to highlight the key role that investment in ports will play in ensuring we build up our offshore wind supply chain. We need to expand our ports so that they can handle the giant offshore wind turbines we’re now installing in UK waters, so his commitment to upgrade port infrastructure by ringfencing £1.8bn for public investment is particularly welcome. We also need future auctions for contracts to generate clean power to be more focused on building up British supply chains.


“We welcome Labour’s commitments to speed up the UK’s moribund planning system and to introduce a net zero mandate for every regulator, focusing particularly on Ofgem, as doing so would speed up the pace at which the UK can invest in vital new grid infrastructure. This would enable us to connect new projects which currently face years of needless delays, at a time when we should be pulling out all the stops to reach net zero and move towards energy independence”.


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Notes


RenewableUK’s members are building our future energy system, powered by clean electricity. We bring them together to deliver that future faster; a future which is better for industry, billpayers, and the environment. We support over 470 member companies to ensure increasing amounts of renewable electricity are deployed across the UK and to access export markets all over the world. Our members are business leaders, technology innovators, and expert thinkers from right across industry.


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