The government’s long-awaited Energy Security Strategy, due to be published soon, could not come at a more critical time. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed the importance of a sustainable and affordable energy policy, as the cost of living crisis has rocketed to the top of the political agenda. People worry about whether they’ll be able to keep the lights on. The chancellor’s Spring Statement was widely criticised for not doing enough to help voters struggling with spiralling energy prices.
In some quarters, this anxiety is fuelling anti-renewables sentiment. Nigel Farage is calling for a referendum on the government’s net-zero policy and some MPs are urging ministers to slow their plans for a carbon-neutral UK for the sake of their constituents’ energy bills.
This misjudges the public mood. Concerns about climate change and the cost of living are not mutually exclusive and there remains widespread public support for renewables.
New Onward polling with Public First shows that six in 10 voters still support net zero and a majority of those polled would support it even if it meant bills rising. Conservative voters also lean in this direction, with 48 per cent supporting net zero even if it is costly, compared to 38 per cent who think it should be scrapped. More broadly, voters frequently cite the environment as one of their top priorities.
As well as being out of step with the public, anti-renewables campaigners are wrong about the facts. Expanding North Sea energy extraction would take at least eight years to get going and new nuclear plants won’t be ready until the mid-2030s. Fracking is also controversial and, in parts of the country sat on shale gas reserves, incredibly unpopular and politically fraught.
We could of course look elsewhere for our energy supply. The US has just agreed a deal to supply the EU with liquified natural gas, and Boris Johnson recently visited Saudi Arabia to discuss strengthening our energy ties with Riyadh as the world pivots away from Russia.
But while these are viable short-term solutions, they won’t in the long term shield the UK from rising energy prices, which are subject to global supply and demand dynamics. Sourcing fossil fuels from elsewhere would not bring this country the cheaper bills and energy security we need.
This crucial fact underlines why u-turning on net zero now would be counter-productive. In current circumstances, renewable schemes are the fastest way to lower bills and deliver a more secure supply. They can save households money under “Contracts for Difference” (CfD) rules designed to incentivise renewable investment. Because electricity prices exceeded the price paid for renewable electricity under CfDs this winter, renewable projects paid back more than £114m to energy suppliers—a saving that will be passed onto customers. Onward’s research shows that these savings will increase as the UK builds more cheap offshore wind farms, particularly if global gas prices remain high.
Renewables can lay the foundations for British workers in British companies to deliver British households a steady supply of green energy, providing us with the resilience that we need and helping our energy sector withstand global price fluctuations.
Taking all of these benefits into account—security, cost and the politics—it’s clear that the government has only one viable option when it publishes its Energy Security Strategy: to press ahead with its plan to make the UK net zero by 2050.
