The government today published Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener and Academy Fellows have welcomed the document, which aims to set out a plan for decarbonisation by 2050.
Sir Jim McDonald FREng FRSE, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, says:
“I am delighted to see the government publishing a net zero strategy for the UK today. A whole-system strategy for delivering net zero is crucial for reducing our emissions at greater pace, which we need to do to stay within our carbon budgets. It is important that the government are embracing the systems approach to net zero policymaking, which the Academy and the National Engineering Policy Centre have long advocated for. While there is more for government to do to ensure that our journey towards net zero is structured for innovation, speed, and benefit to communities, this strategy is a pivotal step towards having infrastructure, technology, investment, places and people all moving together to create a shared net zero future.
“COP26 is a critical moment for global society, and an opportunity that cannot be missed for governments to agree concrete international action on our path to net zero and the necessary collaborations to accelerate the energy transition. As more countries join the UK in setting out their ‘net zero’ targets, the challenge for governments then becomes how they are going to deliver on these commitments.
“As the strategy makes clear, engineers will be essential to achieving decarbonisation on the huge scale required to meet our 2030 and 2050 targets - engineers from every discipline will design, build, retrofit, operate and make safe the infrastructure and technologies required.”
Professor Nilay Shah OBE FREng, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Deputy Chair of the National Engineering Policy Centre Net Zero working group, says:
“I welcome the publication of the long-awaited net zero strategy today. The 2050 net zero target is ambitious and the UK will need to work hard to achieve it. Clear vision, good governance and a rigorous systems approach to implementation will all be needed to realise these ambitions and ensure that costs and benefits are distributed equitably and any undesirable unintended consequences are avoided. It is vital that a holistic transition plan is set out in order to be able to assess the engineering feasibility of different scenarios while building public and business confidence in a shared future and demonstrating UK leadership in the field.”
“For the net zero strategy to succeed it must be effective in driving and coordinating progress across government and industry, provide systems-level analysis, rapidly share learnings about what works, build a clear, evidence-based vision for a net zero and be underpinned by a clear net zero skills plan. This strategy recognises these things, and we look forward to working with government to flesh out and implement the additional measures needed to deal with the hard-to-predict impacts of so much change all at once, and to ensure that communities are empowered to make long-term choices about their local transition to net zero.
“I particularly welcome the recognition in the Net Zero Strategy of the importance of actively taking steps to reduce energy demand, which can be achieved through policies promoting efficiency and reduced consumption. Reaching net zero is virtually impossible without massively cutting down on the large amount of energy we waste, and prioritising energy efficiency measure now is an easy, ‘low-regret’ way to reduce the size of the net zero challenge.”
Tim Chapman FREng, Director at Arup and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, says:
“I am delighted with the highest level of government attention to resolving our addiction to fossil fuels and propelling the UK towards a Net Zero Carbon future – headline grabbing policies of subsidies for heat pumps are balanced by well thought through remedies such as future low carbon electricity being made much more competitive with gas prices. Further leadership will be needed to paint a compelling picture of how a fully green society will be happier and healthier and so drive consumer behaviour to accept stronger compromises from how they live now.”
Professor Jim Hall FREng, Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, says:
“The government’s net zero strategy is a very significant step because it sets out the timetable for emissions reduction across all of the main carbon-emitting sectors of the economy, as well as for negative emissions technologies. There are plenty of technical, social and financial challenges still to resolve, but the direction of travel towards net zero is now becoming clearer.”
Notes for Editors
- Net zero Through the National Engineering Policy Centre, the Academy leads an extensive programme of policy work, aiming to achieve a thriving, low-carbon economy through rapid and large-scale systemic change. https://www.raeng.org.uk/policy/policy-projects-and-issues/net-zero-a-systems-perspective-on-the-climate-chal
Recommendations on net zero also feature prominently in Six engineering ambitions for the UK Spending Review, the National Engineering Policy Centre’s submission to the 2021 spending review. It recommends six areas for investment that the engineering profession believes the government should prioritise if it is to meet the goals it has set itself and the country.
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For more information please contact:
Jane Sutton at the Royal Academy of Engineering
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