Can we call yesterday’s budget ‘green’?

  Posted by: electime      12th March 2020

Mike Hughes, UK & Ireland President, Schneider Electric comments on yesterday’s Budget announcement and whether the budget goes far enough when it comes to incentivising green and sustainable investment.

“I am pleased to see increased investment in the electric vehicle charging infrastructure and the promise of reforms to make zero and low emission vehicles more affordable in today’s budget. However, this is by no means a green budget and doesn’t address some of the key factors that will help us to achieve a net zero economy by 2050.  Significant investment will be required to the energy grid to support a comprehensive EV charging infrastructure.  Greater consideration needs to be taken about where that investment will come from and if it is to come from business, how the UK will attract it.”

“Measures to limit the impact of Coronavirus on business and the economy general are extremely welcome and provide reassurance the new government is pro-business.  But there is still significant uncertainty around trade deals and what the UK business environment will look like as we leave the EU.”

“To enable sustainable investment, businesses need certainty, a clear regulatory frame work, and crucially – incentives. That is exactly how the UK has become a world leader in wind power that now makes up 40% of our country’s electricity balance.” 

“Once again, one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, energy waste, has been overlooked.  We would have liked to see incentives to upgrade commercial and residential building stock, and a greater focus on addressing energy waste.

“Our own research at Schneider Electric conservatively estimates that at least 117million tons of carbon emissions is created each year through energy that is generated but lost or wasted. That’s equivalent to planting almost 2 billion trees as seed and growing them for 10 years, according to the EPA. Planting 30,000 trees is a good start, but it’s barely offsetting the top of the annual emissions iceberg.”