How Labour’s net zero policy has changed and what it could mean for your business.
Key takeaways
- Headline ambition to annually invest £28bn in green industries replaced by costed commitment to spend around £24bn over the whole Parliament – a £4.75bn yearly average.
- Mission to achieve Clean Power by 2030 remains – total investments for a new National Wealth Fund remain, but investment for the Warm Homes Plan is scaled back.
- Details of revenue-raising windfall tax announced – Energy Profits Levy would rise from 65% to 78% and extend to the end of the Parliament.
Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan had been its flagship economic policy. First announced in 2021, the headline promise to invest £28bn a year in green industries had since been tempered to a commitment to spend subject to existing fiscal rules.
Labour’s decision to drop an annual spending ambition altogether is confirmation that lowering national debt as a share of GDP by the end of the Parliament is its primary economic policy ahead of the election.
The announcement comes on the day the party finalises its manifesto in the event of an early election.
Clean Power 2030
The Green Prosperity Plan’s core mission to deliver Clean Power by 2030 remains. Businesses long thought that ambitious – now scrutiny will intensify over whether the amount of private capital stimulated by the Plan’s commitments makes that mission achievable.
The Plan retains investments previously committed to over the next Parliament. This includes £7.3bn additional investment in a new National Wealth Fund w