Energy strategy falls short

The government’s long-awaited updated strategy on achieving energy security and net zero, Powering up Britain, is “another green fail” and “a paring down of ambition”, say unions in the sector.

The “blueprint for the future of energy” is a response to a successful legal challenge by Friends of the Earth, the Good Law Project and Client Earth to its inadequate and unlawful net zero strategy, said the PCS. The union said the strategy contains nothing new to address the climate and nature emergency.

Instead, it is “a further bonanza for the fossil fuel industry and business as usual, including high energy costs and profits for energy companies”.

Prospect welcomed the launch of Great British Nuclear” but said it needed to be backed up by proper funding for a nuclear new-build programme including gigawatt-scale plants and small modular reactors. The Community steelworkers’ union said the government had failed to address the issue of crippling costs in the steel sector.

And the TUC said it falls a long way short, with investment in clean energy, green technology, and new ways of delivering energy-intensive products far too low. It also lacks guarantees for workers that existing jobs will be protected and that new green jobs will be good, unionised jobs.

The PCS called for a National Climate Service to drive investment in resources and jobs to achieve decarbonisation targets and for the public ownership of energy.