While much of the 2019 General Election (GE) coverage has been focused on Brexit, the environment also has the potential to play a key role. Surveys such as BEIS’s Public Attitudes Tracker found strong support among the public for renewable generation, as well as concerns about climate change. The net zero target was not something which featured heavily in party manifestos in the 2017 GE, but all parties have already set out their targets this time around.
The importance of this issue can be seen in the manifestos published by trade associations and consumer advocate groups within and connected to the energy sector, such as Energy UK, Renewable UK and National Energy Action. Key themes of more onshore wind, energy efficiency and decarbonisation of transport feature in many of them.
While the manifestos of the political parties are still being put together, we have combined the parties’ pledges they have made in recent months in the below infographic to give an overview of what to expect from government’s involving any of these parties.
There are clear areas of divergence about the speed and ambition of the parties’ plans and it will be interesting to see how this landscape will change when the final manifestos are published.
Additionally, ahead of the GE, we will be holding a webinar on 5 December which will summarise the parties’ energy sector commitments, as well as considering what these could mean for different parties within the energy sector.
