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What Dieter Helm’s review and the industrial strategy might miss

Posted on 20 September, 2017 by Angela Francis One comment

Not all of the ten ‘pillars’ of the industrial strategy green paper will make it into the white paper expected by the end of this year. Civil servants working on the final strategy say the innovation, skills, place, business and infrastructure pillars are the ones likely to remain and the content of the affordable energy and clean growth pillar will be embedded across the strategy. If that can be done well it will better than having a standalone chapter, but if it is done badly, it will be a disaster for the UK’s low carbon transition.

Why the UK reducing its climate diplomacy may not be all bad for green industry

Posted on 3 May, 2017 by Angela Francis Leave a comment

This post first appeared on BusinessGreen.

The government’s Industrial Strategy consultation closed on Easter Monday. But before we had chance to draw breath, a snap election was called, moving the political agenda on again. Read more

How UK plc can support emerging economies to go low carbon

Posted on 21 April, 2017 by Green Alliance blog One comment

This post is by Neal Mehta, managing consultant in the energy and climate team at ICF

For the past five months, colleagues and I have worked on a project for the UK government that was ultimately trying to answer the question: how is the UK best placed to contribute to, and benefit from, the global low carbon transition? Read more

A vacancy on global climate leadership just opened up

Posted on 10 November, 2016 by Leah Davis 5 comments

Yesterday’s US election result signals an end to the steady progression of US climate action. What it leaves is a vacancy for leadership on this major challenge of our time. And the UK is in a strong position to be at the vanguard of the effort to fill it. Read more

How do we store low carbon power long term? The answer is in sight

Posted on 8 September, 2016 by Green Alliance blog 2 comments

This post is by Chris Goodall, author of The Switch, which describes how the world can cost effectively move to a zero carbon economy.

Sometimes we just don’t notice how well things are going in the race to decarbonise the world economy. Solar photovoltaic panels (PV) continue to decline sharply in cost. Batteries are becoming rapidly cheaper and we will have inexpensive electric cars with 200 miles of range within eighteen months. Wind turbines are improving in price and performance, particularly offshore. Energy use is proving easy to manage second by second. Optimism about a prosperous low carbon future for all seven billion people in the world is more justified with each passing month.

Low carbon energy

Earning our living in a low carbon world

Posted on 10 June, 2016 by Green Alliance blog One comment

This post is by the Rt Hon Lord Mandelson, former UK secretary of state for business, innovation and skills. It is the speech he gave to the event ‘Will the UK succeed in a low carbon world’ on 9 June 2016, organised by Green Alliance, with CAFOD, Christian Aid, Greenpeace, RSPB and WWF.

During my time as business secretary I was preoccupied with one question: how does the UK earn its living in an ever more competitive global economy?

Today the question remains the same, but the answer is changing. And, as the report by Green Alliance and other environment and development groups forcefully argues, any answer to that question must include how the UK competes in the global low carbon economy.

How the great British weather can help to bridge the renewables gap

Posted on 11 November, 2015 by Amy Mount Leave a comment

Fighting against the wind The climate for renewable technologies in the UK has been notably inclement lately, ever since the summer’s soggy policy announcements resoundingly dampened investors’ and businesses’ enthusiasm. Now, even the usually resilient edifice of government is leaking.

Low carbon energy

How to involve the public properly in infrastructure planning

Posted on 27 February, 2015 by Amy Mount Leave a comment

Until just a few years ago, it would have been strange to hear environmentalists calling for new infrastructure. Put those two nouns together, and they’d have brought to mind images of unwashed protestors in trees. But climate change has overturned some tables in that respect.

Many environmentalists now agree that the transition to a low carbon economy requires concrete change on the ground: wind turbines, solar farms and extensions to the electricity grid. Railways, rather than runways. Read more

British economic policy would benefit from more Olympic discipline

Posted on 14 January, 2013 by Matthew Spencer 4 comments

This post is by Green Alliance director Matthew Spencer and independent energy consultant Paul Arwas, the authors of Green Alliance’s new pamphlet Nurturing UK cleantech enterprise which is published today . It appeared first on BusinessGreen.

We now know that when the British Cycling team swept the medals board at the 2012 Olympics it wasn’t a lucky breakthrough, but the result of 15 years of steady funding and a long process of incremental improvement under the cool eye of its coach Sir David Brailsford.

The British economy has been underperforming for decades because of low levels of business innovation, but in contrast the policy response to this critical challenge has been fickle and changes almost every year. Ministers lurch between throwing money at breakthroughs like graphene and abandoning programmes that were set up by their predecessors.

Cities are moving faster to a low carbon future

Posted on 18 December, 2012 by Alastair Harper 2 comments

This post by Green Alliance’s Alastair Harper first appeared on the New Statesman’s Current Account blog.

Our cities are the R&D facility for the country. From 4G rollout to community energy, they let us experiment with what’s possible. This is useful, because we’ve just agreed to change everything. The recent Energy Bill accepts how inevitable a low carbon future is for the UK. It also guarantees the money to deliver it on time – all we have to do now is actually do it. Read more

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