Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster welcomes plan for 250,000 jobs

The cluster, which has around 320 members across Cumbria, feels the 10-point Build Back Greener Plan for 250,000 jobs is a blueprint which showcases the UK’s strengths in its industrial heartlands to level up and build back greener.

Mr Johnson announced his 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution” with a design to reset his Government amid the coronavirus pandemic and to move on from the destabilising disputes inside his Downing Street inner circle.

In a statement on Tuesday he said the prime minister stated he is looking to use strategic investment in projects to make Britain the ‘Saudi Arabia of wind’, generating enough electricity from offshore farms to power the country and its recovery through "using Britain’s powers of invention to repair the pandemic’s damage and fight climate change".

The BECBC feels it clearly represents a major opportunity for a range of business in Cumbria, particularly in the supply chain. It is a potentially huge package with claims by the government that it will see investment as part of up to £12 billion being mobilised, with potentially more than three times as much from the private sector.

In total it is projected to support up to 250,000 British jobs covering clean energy, transport, nature and innovative technologies, the blueprint will allow the UK to genuinely tackle the issues of climate change in its quest to achieve Net Zero by 2050.

Ivan Baldwin, chair of BEC Business Cluster gave a positive response to the announcement and said: “Cumbria, with its energy coast is a green energy destination, home to one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms and a globally renowned centre of nuclear excellence. We welcome the announcement on the Government’s Build Back Greener plan and look forward to working with partners to secure sustainable inward investments that create opportunities for all in our communities.”

Featuring investment such as nuclear, offshore wind, carbon capture, hydrogen, electric vehicles, a whole range of clean green technologies will be explored and developed over the nest 30 years.

£525 million has been earmarked to help develop large and smaller-scale nuclear plants, and research and develop new advanced modular reactors, an important aspect of the announcement and one which BEC Business Cluster has been strongly lobbying for along with partner organisations advocating nuclear as a clean energy source. The development of large-scale nuclear plants and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors would again create an abundance of jobs in the supply chain.

There is also the green light to the siting and generation of enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we produce to 40GW by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs.

Other key parts of the plan will be driven forward by significant investment set out over the last year, including the £1 billion energy innovation fund to stay ahead of the latest technologies needed to reach new energy targets. This marks the beginning of the UK’s path to net zero, with further plans to reduce emissions whilst creating jobs to follow over the next year in the run up to the international COP26 climate summit in Glasgow next year.

It is seen as part of the government's "levelling up" strategy, which Boris Johnson pledged after his electoral landslide last year, to make the UK's economy more geographically balanced.

Mr Johnson said the plan would play to the UK’s strengths and its industrial heartlands, with investment targeted at Scotland, Wales, the North of England and the West Midlands.

Greenpeace UK’s head of politics, Rebecca Newsom, said the plan represented a “big step forward for tackling the climate emergency” but the shadow Business Secretary, Ed Miliband, described it as “rebadged funding pots and reheated pledges”.

Lord Deben, chairman of the Climate Change Committee, said the plan marked a “vision for a net-zero UK” but added: “This must now be turned into a detailed road map – so we all know what’s coming down the track in the years ahead.”

The 10 point plan:

Offshore wind — Producing enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling production to 40GW by 2030 and supporting up to 60,000 jobs.

Hydrogen — Generating 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.

Nuclear — Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors, which could support 10,000 jobs.

Electric vehicles — Backing the UK’s car manufacturing bases to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, and adapting national infrastructure.

Public transport, cycling and walking — Making cycling and walking more attractive and investing in zero-emission public transport.

Jet Zero and greener maritime — Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.

Homes and public buildings — Making homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy-efficient, while creating 50,000 jobs by 2030, and aiming to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.

Carbon capture — Becoming a world leader in technology that captures and stores harmful emissions away from the atmosphere.

Nature — Protecting and restoring our natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year, while creating and retaining thousands of jobs.

Innovation and finance — Developing the technology needed to achieve these new energy ambitions and make the City of London the global centre of green finance.