\n<\/p>\n
Weakening or changing net zero policy would deter investors and spook financial markets, the UK government\u2019s new climate adviser has warned.<\/p>\n
Nigel Topping, recently appointed chair of the climate change committee (CCC), said there was \u201crobust evidence\u201d the UK would benefit economically from strong climate policy, despite calls from some politicians to back down.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe business community want strong, stable policy signals, and flip-flopping is not good for investment. We see it right now in the US with a huge brain drain and capital drain, as whole sectors are being de-invested or even attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consistency in the direction of UK policy over the last 20 years \u2013 when successive Labour and Conservative governments vowed to press ahead with tackling the climate crisis, until Rishi Sunak\u2019s premiership \u2013 had benefited the economy, he said.<\/p>\n
In his first interview since being appointed in July, Topping said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a real strength of the UK. That\u2019s one of the main reasons to be concerned about the fragmenting political consensus, is if we start to signal to the world that we\u2019re going to flip-flop, like the US.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government could do more to cut the price of electricity for consumers, which would benefit both households and businesses, he added. At present, the way the UK\u2019s privatised electricity market works means that the price of electricity is usually set by the price of gas, which has been high and volatile.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing driving high costs now is gas,\u201d Topping said. \u201cVery high gas prices right now have added to borrowing because the government\u2019s had to support business and citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re very confident there are big economic savings, particularly on electrification, which gives a big efficiency benefit. And there\u2019s a massive energy security benefit. Our energy imports will reduce more than 75%.\u201d<\/p>\n
Market reforms and shifting green levies that currently fall on electricity into general taxation, would lower prices across the economy, he argued.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Nigel Topping, the UK\u2019s new climate adviser, warned that \u2018flip-flopping is not good for investment\u2019.<\/span> Photograph: Dominika Zarzycka\/NurPhoto\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Relying on fossil fuels also stores up problems, he pointed out. A future spike in gas prices could add 13% of GDP to our borrowing, according to the Office for Budgetary Responsibility.<\/p>\n Topping, 59, rejected arguments that extracting more gas from the North Sea would help.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a basin in terminal decline, it\u2019s going to reduce by 85% by 2050 anyway. So why would you do it? There\u2019s no way of saving the 200,000 jobs in the North Sea, which is sometimes declared,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As gas prices are set internationally, more UK production would not make energy cheaper. Expanding production would also damage the UK\u2019s credibility on climate action, he said.<\/p>\n Topping, who spent 18 years in manufacturing before moving into climate advocacy in 2007, was the UN high-level champion for climate action at Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence is very strong that we can do [net zero] and it will be to the significant benefit of the economy, both macroeconomically and microeconomically,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cLike any investment, there\u2019s an upfront cost. Our advice shows that it\u2019s about 0.2% of GDP [most of which will come from the private sector]. But by the back end of the next decade [from 2035] you reap the benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n While he cannot prescribe policies, Topping can give broad directional advice. The CCC\u2019s most recent assessment of progress towards the 2050 net zero target found the UK was getting back on track in several areas, after years of inadequate policy under the Conservatives.<\/p>\n But there are still figures in the Labour government who want to weaken net zero policy, to echo stances taken by the Tories under Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK.<\/p>\n There were rumours in Westminster that advisers to Keir Starmer wanted Ed Miliband, energy security secretary, moved in the recent reshuffle, but he resisted.<\/p>\n Faced with opposition from the right, Topping insists that policy should be based on facts and evidence. \u201cIf narratives are developed which aren\u2019t backed up by evidence, we need to be really careful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The UK could even reach net zero as early as 2045, Topping believes \u2013 though this is not official CCC advice. Other greenhouse gases would take slightly longer but could still be reduced to net zero by 2050, he said.<\/p>\n Despite the directions taken by Reform and the Tories, Topping sees a strong mandate for climate action among the UK public.<\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence that we see is that people recognise that bold, strong action needs to be taken,\u201d he said, noting that the CCC has been closely involved with citizens\u2019 panels.<\/p>\n \u201cThe majority are supportive of action and want it explained and want it to be fair.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re concerned about is arguments being developed which are not supported by robust evidence for political purposes, and so we will make sure that we see that we\u2019re providing evidence which allows people to make informed decisions based on solid evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Weakening or changing net zero policy would deter investors and spook financial markets, the UK government\u2019s new climate adviser has warned. Nigel Topping, recently appointed chair of the climate change committee (CCC), said there was \u201crobust evidence\u201d the UK would benefit economically from strong climate policy, despite calls from some politicians to back down. He<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[2271,186,611,3106,3036,328,2445,13193,1070,1060,13192],"class_list":{"0":"post-21498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-adviser","9":"tag-climate","10":"tag-energy","11":"tag-investors","12":"tag-net","13":"tag-policy","14":"tag-renewable","15":"tag-spook","16":"tag-uks","17":"tag-warns","18":"tag-weakening"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}