On 13 January, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published the final report of the Net Zero Review, commissioned by former prime minister Liz Truss MP and chaired by former BEIS minister Chris Skidmore MP.
The report, titled ‘Mission Zero’, outlines 129 recommendations to achieve within the next decade in order to attain net zero carbon. Overall, the report criticizes government for failing to match its ambitious rhetoric on net zero with an equally ambitious policy track record. Pointing to the advantages in leading the race to net zero in terms of enhanced economic growth and future job creation, Skidmore notes that the UK has to make the choice on whether it wants to be a leader in this context or just be an observer from the sidelines.
Maritime UK contributed to the call for evidence within the process of the Net Zero Review and the report cites Maritime UK’s assessment that “although government and industry have both made a substantive start towards decarbonisation, there is a need to increase the scale and pace of this joint effort.”
Within the 129 recommendations made within the report, two concern the maritime sector and they call on government to:
- take a leading role in International Maritime Organization (IMO) negotiations to decarbonise the maritime sector at a global level;
- develop a pathway for UK Emissions Trading Scheme by 2024, setting out a timeline for expanding its coverage to the maritime sector.
Other relevant recommendations urge government to:
- consult on and publish a strategy by 2023 setting out how government spending, policies and regulation will help scale up private finance to enable greater growth and energy security;
- establish an Office for Net Zero Delivery by the Spring of 2023 to ensure cross-departmental priorities are properly managed;
- review the frequency of the publication of data on UK emissions by 2024 and reflecting the climate impact of fiscal decision-making in future spending reviews;
- develop a long-term cross-sectoral infrastructure strategy by 2025, to adapt and build respectively the distribution of liquid and gaseous fuels, electricity and CO2 networks over the next decade;
- carry out competitiveness analysis for clean technologies setting out the UK’s export/import strategies and where it intends to develop leadership;
- develop and implement an ambitious and pragmatic ’10 year’ delivery roadmap for the scaling up of hydrogen production by 2023;
- create a roadmap by the Autumn of 2023 detailing decision points for developing and deploying R&D and technologies critical for enabling the net zero pathway to 2050;
- review how to incentivize greater R&D for net zero, including clarity on research priorities and government support, tax credits, greater ring-fencing of R&D spend, and enabling regulations.
Source: Maritime UK