Reducing emissions remains crucial to UK resilience

Reacting to the Conservative Party’s energy policy speech, Rachel Solomon Williams, Executive Director at Aldersgate Group, said: “We fully agree that reducing the cost of electricity should be a top priority, enabling businesses and consumers to make the transition to electric heating and transport while keeping costs down. But we are also in the middle of a climate crisis that poses huge risks to businesses and communities. The risks of fire, flooding, drought and overheating have never been more apparent, and the UK is no exception. Responsible governments must act urgently both to protect people, our countryside and businesses from these physical risks and to prevent them from becoming worse. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will provide a crucial part of that resilience.

“The answer is to make sure that energy policy delivers the maximum economic benefits alongside emissions reductions. Many countries are already demonstrating how climate action can support investment, jobs, energy security and economic growth, and the UK risks being left behind. Our policy choices should give investors the long-term certainty they need to support UK businesses while delivering more homegrown clean power generation and reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels. Providing that certainty, which itself will help to keep down the cost of capital, will depend on sticking to our legislative commitments.”

—ENDS—