UK should spend over £8bn in next budget to effectively decarbonise economy
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14:30 26/04/24
A report by Lord Nicholas Stern urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to spend over £8bn in next week’s budget on zero-carbon infrastructure and outlined the impact of climate change on the UK.
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The report said that the budget is an opportunity to kickstart a “massive and long-term” boost to “zero-carbon infrastructure, new skills and sustainable innovation”.
Lord Stern said the new chancellor should meet the government’s target for net-zero emissions with measures already highlighted in the Conservative party manifesto.
Stern also advised Sunak to focus his efforts on sectors “difficult to decarbonise” such as transport, property and industry.
The report suggests investment in vehicle charging points around the country for electric cars, thus boosting their sales and the electric car revolution.
The report recommends the government use £6.3bn committed for energy efficiency in the 2019 election manifesto to reduce energy waste in buildings, which is the cause for 17% of all the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Stern’s warning came after protesters urged the Bank of England to disclose their climate risks “as soon possible”.
Protesters also called for the central bank to exclude fossil fuel assets from both future rounds of quantitative easing (QE) and the assets the Bank accepts as collateral.