Net zero will make the UK stronger and richer says minister

IEMA and The Broadway Initiative recently held an event in Westminster to discuss net zero, green skills and sustainability targets for 2024 with IEMA CEO Sarah Mukherjee MBE and guests Graham Stuart MP, Lord Gus O’Donnell, Broadway Initiative's Edward Lockhart-Mummery and Kerry McCarthy MP. Vivienne Russell reports.

The transition to a zero-carbon economy will make the UK both stronger and richer, the minister for energy security and net zero told business and environmental professionals yesterday.

Speaking at a reception at the Houses of Parliament, Graham Stuart noted that the UK was leading the way on the net zero agenda and “rewiring” the whole British economy.

“If we connect [the potential of renewable energy] up, we will have a largely electrified system, and with a net zero system right across Europe we should have low-cost clean energy as the base of our economy,” he told attendees at the event, which was jointly hosted by IEMA and the Broadway Initiative and brought together green leaders from politics and business. Among the speakers was IEMA CEO Sarah Mukherjee MBE.

Stuart concluded: “If we work together, then this country can come out of it stronger and richer, as well as having come up with solutions which can be sold for many decades to come all around the world, making us a stronger country, both economically, environmentally, and morally.”

The reception also heard from Labour’s Kerry McCarthy, the shadow minister for climate change and net zero. As MP for Bristol East, her constituency borders that of former Conservative MP Chris Skidmore, author of the government’s net zero review, who recently resigned from Parliament in protest at the government’s plans to sanction a fresh round of oil and gas drilling licenses for the North Sea.

McCarthy argued that she shared Skidmore’s frustration on what she indicated was a slackening in the government’s commitment to net zero, following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s speech in September last year, in which he rolled back on some key green targets.

She added that both political consensus and collaboration were important. She also stressed that she agreed with Skidmore that net zero should be viewed as an opportunity, not as a threat.

“We have to portray to people that narrative and that vision,” McCarthy told guests.

“It is partly about protecting what you've got and making sure that those manufacturing jobs stay there, but also how you can lift the community up. [It’s] also about the green jobs and the skills that are needed to ensure that young people get into those fields.”

The shadow minister highlighted the importance of certainty for business. “We know that there's a role for government in underwriting risk and pump priming certain projects and there will be things where the market won't step up.

“But we also believe that if you send the right signals to the market, and you remove obstacles in their way, then the market will step up.”

The reception was hosted by Lord O’Donnell, a former Cabinet secretary and current chair of Frontier Economics. Welcoming guests, he called for some long-term stability and certainty for the net zero agenda.

“This really needs long-term targets,” O’Donnell said, adding that stability, predictability and an understandable and effective regulatory structure were also vital.

“I’m really interested in that market side of this, making sure the incentives all add up. That’s massively important for net zero and for nature recovery.

“To do all of that we need something that's really very difficult in government, but also difficult across the private sector, which is collaboration.”

In her remarks, IEMA CEO Mukherjee agreed that collaboration between political leaders and the private sector along with the right policy and funding frameworks is key. She said the transition to net zero “simply won’t happen” without a properly skilled workforce.

Looking forward to the publication of the government’s net zero and nature workforce action plan, which Stuart revealed was now called the green jobs plan, Mukherjee said it “must map out for us a long-term pathway for jobs and skills to achieve our net zero and wider nature aims and crucially, it should be created in a way that allows it to transcend political cycles”.

She reiterated IEMA’s call for the establishment of a cross-government body to deliver green skills and jobs for the UK.

“However, government intervention alone won't be enough to support businesses in developing new skills appropriately for the green economy,” Mukherjee said.

“One of our mantras is ‘all jobs greener’ [and] workers in all roles will need to understand sustainability in a way that is appropriate for the work that they do.”

Ed Lockhart-Mummery, convenor of the Broadway Initiative, which brings together professional and trade associates with the aim of mainstreaming sustainability into all parts of the economy, also spoke at the event.

He said three things that were needed to deliver net zero: a mechanism for government, business and finance to work in partnership; policy and delivery mechanisms to translate strategy into the certainty the private sector needs if it is to invest; and —most importantly — people committed to working together.

“On that note, I want to give particular thanks to IEMA who are at the forefront of developing the people and skills base in the UK and beyond and who incubated the Broadway initiative as an organisation,” he said.

Please note: the views expressed in this blog are those of the individual contributing member and are not necessarily representative of the views of IEMA or any professional institutions with which IEMA is associated.