Government’s 10-point plan for green future just ‘pie in the sky' - The Redditch Standard

Government’s 10-point plan for green future just ‘pie in the sky'

Redditch Editorial 21st Nov, 2020   0

THE Prime Minister’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution has been hailed as ‘game changing’ by Redditch MP Rachel Maclean.

Mrs Maclean said Boris Johnson’s blueprint would allow the UK to forge ahead with eradicating its contribution to climate change by 2050.

However the town’s Greens said much of it is ‘pie in the sky’, and what isn’t is just tinkering around the edges as the world heats up.

The plan involves a £12bn government investment to create and support up to 250,000 skilled green jobs and spur private sector investment by 2030.




The PM’s ten points are:

1 Producing enough offshore wind to power every home.


2 Working with industry to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

3 Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source.

4 Backing the UK’s car manufacturing bases, including in the West Midlands, to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.

5 Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel.

6 Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener.

7 Making homes, schools and hospitals greener and more energy efficient.

8 Becoming a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions.

9 Protecting and restoring the natural environment.

10 Developing cutting-edge technologies and making the City of London the global centre of green finance.

Mrs Maclean, who is the Minister for the Future of Transport and Decarbonisation and who worked on the plan described it as ‘game changing’.

“Let no one tell you that the UK isn’t doing everything it possibly can to end its contribution to climate change by 2050,” she said.

“Not only is this plan protecting our environment and planet for future generations, but we’re also creating hundreds of thousands of highly skilled green jobs at the same time.”

Councillor Anthony Lovell, portfolio holder for climate change on Redditch Borough Council, added: “Only three years ago I could only dream of what the Government is now talking about.

“I think the private sector is going to take the bull by the horns and forge ahead using existing technology and patenting new technologies that, hopefully in a single decade, will be the most pivotal turning point since the creation of the internal combustion engine.”

However Claire Davies the leader of Redditch Green Party described the plan as simply not ambitious enough.

“It’s talking about new technologies which simply do not exist – it’s pie in the sky, science fiction actually,” she said.

“We need to be taking definitive action now. They are looking at the right kind of things but they are tinkering around the edges.

“It’s like they don’t want to rock the boat, but we need a massive cultural shift to get on top of this, as the way the weather is going their boat will be rocking all right.”

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