Hexham MP Guy Opperman has welcomed the Government’s publication of its Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution. Spanning clean energy, buildings, transport, nature and innovative technologies, the Plan will mobilise £12 billion of government investment to create and support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs in the UK, and unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030.
At the centre of the plan are the UK’s industrial heartlands. The green industrial revolution will provide jobs in companies and emerging industries right across the North East region and the north of the UK. In doing so, it will position the UK to take advantage of export opportunities in new, global emerging markets in low carbon technologies and services.
Guy Opperman MP said:
‘This year has taken a very different path to the one we expected, but despite all the challenges of COVID-19 the Government has not lost sight of its ambitious plans to level up and create jobs across the country. As we rebuild from the impacts of COVID-19, we must build back better, greener, and faster. This means supporting jobs, accelerating our path to net zero, and creating long-term advantage for the UK.
‘I am really pleased that this Government is taking a joined up approach to tackling climate change. Alongside the bold Ten Point Plan announced last week, the Pensions Schemes Bill passed through Parliament. One of the key parts of this new legislation is to make everyone’s pension greener by encouraging and expecting investors to make pension portfolios climate friendly. So, at every level, whether national and industrial or private and financial, this Government is putting tackling climate change centre stage.’
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
The ten point plan combines ambitious policies with significant new public investment to deliver a vision for the UK that is greener, more prosperous and at the forefront of industries for the future.
The plan builds on the UK’s strengths and covers the following 10 areas:
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, across large scale nuclear and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors, all of which could support 10,000 jobs.
4. Electric vehicles: Backing our world-leading car manufacturing bases including in the West Midlands, North East and North Wales to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, and transforming our national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles.
5. Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport of the future.
6. Jet Zero and greener maritime: Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.
7. Homes and public buildings: Making our homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, whilst creating 50,000 jobs by 2030, and a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.
8. 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 a year by 2030, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber today.
9. Nature: Protecting and restoring our natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year by 2025, 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.