- Chancellor announces that National Wealth Fund has invested in new low-carbon projects
- Government will unveil new carbon plan later in the year
- Greenpeace slams strategy for Heathrow runway
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves says net zero will be critical to the UK’s future economic growth amid a flurry of investments in low carbon technology from the National Wealth Fund.
During her speech on the economy at Siemens Healthineers, Reeves described net zero as “the industrial opportunity of the 21st century” and said the UK must “lead the way” in transitioning to clean energy.
She said the National Wealth Fund, the government’s investment arm, has invested £28 million into Cornish Metals’ tin mine project at South Crofty in Cornwall.
Reeves said the project will provide “the raw materials to be used in solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles” as well as provide jobs in the South West.
The cash injection is part of a £56 million funding raise for Cornish Metals, which the Fund said would help the UK’s renewable energy sector get the minerals and resources it needs.
The Fund’s CEO John Flint said that critical minerals projects such as South Crofty were “an important driver of the UK’s transition to net zero”.
The Fund has also put £65 million into electric vehicle (EV) charging company Connected Kerb to improve the UK’s infrastructure and make EV charging more accessible for people without driveways, Reeves confirmed.
In addition, Reeves also announced that the government would give wind power a boost by “removing barriers to deliver 16 gigawatts of offshore wind”.
This is all part of a broader plan to refresh the government’s Carbon Budget Delivery Plan, its long term strategy to cut emissions. Reeves said the government will announce a “refreshed plan later this year” at the same time as the Spending Review.
It isn’t clear what the new Plan will include but indications suggest it will involve more government grants and support for solar panels.
‘Growth at all costs’
Despite the plans for solar power and EVs, Reeves and the government have been criticised for backing a third runway at Heathrow Airport and for cutting back on the environmental requirements for developers.
Reeves announced that developers will have to pay less for nature restoration when they build and the government will change rules that get in the way of infrastructure projects, such as trainlines, windfarms and nuclear power plants.
She said this is to improve the UK’s infrastructure, but has been attacked by environmental campaigners.
Dr Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK’s policy director, said while Reeves was right to say that tackling climate change is the biggest industrial opportunity of the 21st century, she was “dead wrong to think that airport expansion is the way to seize it”.
Parr accused Reeves and the government of trying to achieve “growth at all costs” and urged her to focus on “industries that can attract investment and bring wider economic and social benefits”.
Specifically, Parr said Reeves should aim to upgrade the power grid, railways, and housing while “growing the renewables revolution and spearheading innovation in green steel, electric vehicles and batteries”.
