The UK risks becoming a “flip-flop” environment for investors, industry figures have warned following the government's decision to water down a number of Net Zero plans.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday laid out his plans to delay or scrap a number of the country’s flagship Net Zero targets, including moving the ban on the sale of non-EV cars from 2030 to 2035, and pushing back building insulation targets.
While Sunak sought to assuage fears around Net Zero's general abandonment - insisting that the UK is on track to meet its broad 2050 Net Zero target enshrined in law - he also looked to chart a “new approach” based on “long-term decisions".
However industry experts have been dismayed by the announcement, with a number of business leaders warning that the move could damage the UK's reputation as a global leader in thr energy transition.
Shah Jahan Khandokar, energy lawyer at McDermott Will & Emery, said there is a “risk of deterring future investment because of what will be perceived to be, once again, an uncertain regulatory environment, or what some may call, a 'flip-flop' environment”.
Speaking to Sky News, industry leader Asif Ghafoor, chief executive of EV charging firm Be.EV, said: “You would hope in this country [...] that actually we are more ambitious, and want to create that environment where infrastructure is being built and there’s more certainty, the more things which change around us the less certainty there is, and it's very disappointing.”
Green investment featured prominently in industry leaders' view of the future in our recent article looking at what a future Labour government might mean for the industry. Click here to read more.