THE GOVERNMENT’S Net Zero plan is built on capitalist innovation, said a University of Reading professor.
Professor Chris Hilson, director of the Reading Centre for Climate and Justice at the university, said the plan is built on “capitalist business as usual”.
“There is no ‘hair-shirted’ degrowth or cutting back on things like meat, flying or car driving here,” he said. “Instead, the strategy is infused with a technological optimism that the market will deliver the solutions that we need to be able to carry on with life as it was pre-Covid.
“The emphasis is on gain — we will live in warmer homes, breathing cleaner air – rather than pain. We must of course hope that the prime minister’s optimism turns out to be justified here. Markets take time to respond, and some technologies, like carbon capture and storage, may never be viable at scale.
“The question is whether we have that much time to make the necessary cuts in emissions. If the technologies don’t appear by a certain date, then we may all be forced to swallow some more painful medicine.”
Professor Hilson said the Government’s long-awaited domestically-focused Net Zero Strategy can be best described as “Heat pumps, hydrogen, and hope”.
He said until now, there was not a clear pathway for reaching the country’s targets.
“Those looking for a singular, planned pathway will be disappointed,” he said. “Instead, the Government places an emphasis on ‘optionality’ and the role of markets and capitalism to come up with solutions, presenting a range of scenarios for what technologies may in the end be deployed by companies and organisations.”
The professor said the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and its carbon price is set out as one of the key market-based policy levers to incentivise businesses to make green choices.
This would be accompanied by state subsidies for carbon capture and storage, heat pump installation, and nuclear power.
He said the end of selling new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, and phasing out gas boilers by 2035, also play a key role.
He added: “However, much of the heavy lifting is expected to be done via major private investment from the financial markets, as already seen in areas like offshore wind.”
Professor Hilson said the strategy also has an industrial policy feel to it. It aims to build on offshore wind, oil and gas, and the City of London as a centre for green finance. As well as creating more green industrial jobs.
