‘Levelling up’ the UK is a golden opportunity for climate action – but the government is failing

Economists don’t talk anymore about decarbonisation As a costClimate action is widely considered an investment. As with any investment in new economic areas, money spent will be more than compensated by the benefits it brings.

One sector of the UK’s economy that has benefited the most from government support since the 1970s is the one shown below. finance. The UK finance industry has grown to be the biggest of any in G7This was in comparison to the rest the national economy. This was accompanied the fastest decline of manufacturing as a percent of GDP among its economic counterparts.

NurturingThe City of London has been the financial center of the City of London, at the expense of the wider economic system. The gulfin economic activity between capital and rest of country. Into this scenario came the government’s recent White paper for “levelling-up” the UK’s regions – an effort to ensure that it makes “good business sense for the private sector to invest in areas that have for too long felt left behind”, according to the Prime Minister’s foreword.

The UK has a way to take climate change seriously: diversifying its economy and shifting the focus away from London. The Conservative government, despite its rhetoric ignores this historic chance.

Let’s consider one example. Replacing gas boilers with electric heat pumps and upgrading all home insulation in line with the recommendations of the government’s official climate change advisor(The Climate Change Committee could create between 900,000 to 1.3 million jobsThe, which is dispersed throughout every village, town, or city in the UK.

One of the best places on the planet is the North Sea, with its stable geology. It also has empty, well-exploited oil reservoirs. Long-term carbon storage. The UK could be considered a part of the Global raceThis and other low-carbon industries, such as green steel, are good places to invest. it’s not.

Low-carbon industries could be a way for regions to tap into their unique advantages and find new growth models that can replace lost industries. There are already a few examples. Cornwall is exploring its potential. Geothermal energy hubHot granite is a geological endowment.

With the right support, the UK’s declining steel industry could be retooled to outfit an expanding wind energy sector with low-carbon steel, allowing more places to follow the path of Humberside where the offshore wind boom has Manufacturing is being revived.

Missed opportunities

Climate change didn’t even get a mention in the Announcement accompanying the launch of the government’s levelling-up proposals. The white paper itself stated that the transition to a net-zero economy was the second most important of the 16 priorities.

This means that regional investment opportunities are being squandered. Take the UK’s steel industry. In a prior policy announcement the government promised to “Consider the implications” of expert recommendations that steelmaking should be 2035: Carbon-neutral. But no money will flow from the government’s own clean steel fund, announced in 2019, until 2023. Currently, the UK’s steel industry is Foundering.

The government could have simultaneously delivered on its net-zero agenda and levelling-up plans by bringing forward investment for a green steel manufacturing boom. This would enrich the regions of Wales and northern England where Britain’s steel industry was first forged.

The levelling-up white paper instead lays out a set of “missions” for addressing regional inequalities which include increasing pay and productivity across the country, ensuring 200,000 more people are completing high-quality skills training annually, and making the connectivity of transport systems nationwide more similar to London by 2030.

The funding for these missions encompasses a dizzying array of separate pots of money, some of which had already been announced: £26 billion in capital investment for the net zero transition, £5 billion for buses and active travel, and £3.8 billion for skills training were all in the 2021 Autumn Budget. Failing to supplement this funding leaves both the UK’s climate targets and levelling-up agenda in doubt.

The plan allows regions to apply from central government for new devolved powers. This is the most promising part. Around three-quartersMany local authorities have declared climate emergency and many others have. Working with residents to develop climate plans. It is sensible to give people more control over the direction their regions should go. However, the funding announced to support this devolution must not be compared to a decade of cuts. Budgets of local authorities.

An alternative approach would have been to marry the government’s climate change responsibilities with the levelling-up agenda. These objectives could have been decarbonising homes, making the UK a global leader in green steel production, or addressing UK agriculture emissions. They could have prompted investment to specific regions, and structured support for education, skills, and training.

This would have helped to reassure local authorities and private businesses, as well as young people who make decisions about further education and training, that the government is committed to net zero.

Re-orienting the UK’s economic model away from the current finance-centred model that benefits London at the expense of the rest of the country is a Herculean task. However, a combination of radical climate action and regional development as well as genuine devolution can be a blueprint for success. While the Conservatives have already begun to work towards such an agenda, their levelling-up proposals suggest that they still have much work to do.

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