The row over the government’s approval of a Cumbrian coal mine exposes concerns about whether the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has enough clout in Whitehall to enforce the drive to net zero emissions, the author of a global study on energy policy making has warned.
A fortnight ago, communities secretary Robert Jenrick granted approval for a new coal mine in Cumbria, which is being dug to supply coking coal for the UK steel industry.
However, the decision to approve such a highly greenhouse gas emitting development has sparked worldwide criticism of the UK as inconsistent with its efforts to lead action on climate change at this year’s UN COP 26 summit in Glasgow. According to press reports, COP 26 president and ex-BEIS secretary Alok Sharma was “apoplectic” about the approval.
Will McDowall, associate professor in eco-innovation at the University College of London Energy Institute, told an event on energy policy held by the Institute for Government (IfG) on Monday that the decision has raised worrying questions about how strong BEIS is across Whitehall.
He said: “BEIS doesn’t have the clout across government to drive all of the net zero decisions that need to be taken.
“We need to ensure greater power at the centre to co-ordinate these net zero objectives. We need to ensure we have the clout at the centre to ensure that departments are aligned around the priorities of net zero rather than leaving it to BEIS, which is not really strong enough to drive this across government.”
McDowall, who is also a senior fellow at the IfG, said beefing up regulations to cut emissions from buildings is an example of an area where BEIS will have to work through a different department to achieve its net zero objectives.
“The government is getting quite a lot right but the scale of the challenge means it has to do a lot better.”
And he said that the government could not rely on market mechanisms, like carbon pricing, to stimulate the roll out of testbed technologies, like marine power.
Carbon prices have had a “relatively incremental” impact in terms of seeding investment in more innovative technologies, McDowall said: “We can’t rely on them to drive investment signals in radical new technologies.”
Guy Newey, strategy and performance director at the Energy Systems Catapult, said the co-ordination of climate change policy had improved since he worked for the government between 2015 and 2018.
When a special advisor to government, Newey said he would have “killed” to have the support of the two Cabinet committees set up since 2019 to help drive efforts to reduce emissions to net zero.
Net zero requires lot of central co-ordination, he said: “We need that central grip.”
Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive of Energy UK, said the government must look at whether it has the “right institutions” to implement net zero. “If we get that right, everything else will flow.”
Baroness Brown of Cambridge, vice-chair of the Climate Change Committee, warned that unless the Green Homes Grant is sorted out “really quickly”, efforts to decarbonise heating will suffer a reputational hit.