With its 10 point-plan titled “The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, Building back better, supporting green jobs, and accelerating our path to net zero”, the UK, the country which spearheaded the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago has embarked on an ambitious plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050. This initiative for green industrial revolution is poised to become a worldwide trend.
“Imagine how our Green Industrial Revolution could transform life across our United Kingdom. You cook your breakfast using hydrogen power before getting in your electric car, having charged it overnight from batteries made in the Midlands. Around you the air is cleaner, and the trucks and trains, ships and planes are running on hydrogen or a synthetic fuel. British towns and regions — Teesside, Port Talbot, Merseyside and Mansfield — have become synonymous with green technology and the jobs they bring. This is where Britain’s ability to make hydrogen and capture carbon pioneered the decarbonisation of transport, industry and power.
This Ten Point Plan to get there will mobilise £12 billion of government investment, and potentially three times as much from the private sector, to create and support up to 250,000 green jobs. There will be electric vehicle technicians in the Midlands, construction and installation workers in the North East and Wales, specialists in advanced fuels in the North West, agroforestry practitioners in Scotland, and grid system installers everywhere. And we will help people train for these new green jobs through our Lifetime Skills Guarantee. ” penned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson , these prophetic words that may change the destiny of the globe , struggling to combat global warming and climate change that is virtually threatened the very existence of the humanity.
Milestones
So far, the UK has achieved several milestones, cutting the emission by 43 percent while expanding its GDP by 75 per cent. The UK’s low-carbon industries already support over 460,000 jobs. These low-carbon industries include electric vehicle manufacturing in the Midlands and the North East and the UK’s thriving offshore wind industry centred on the Humber and the Tees.
In 2019, the UK became the first major economy to commit a legally binding obligation to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Ten Point –Plan
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Ten Point Plan will lay the foundations for a Green Industrial Revolution. The plan will commence by supporting over 90,000 jobs across the UK this year and this would be extended up to 250,000 by 2030.
The plan would help the UK to make a green recovery and the massive initiative would create short-term as well as long-term engagements for engineers, fitters, construction workers in harnessing British science and technology to create and use clean energy.
One of the principal advantages of creating new green technologies is that the UK will, eventually, become the centre for green technologies of excellence, not only creating a lucrative local market, but also wining an expanding foreign markets across the globe and in the Commonwealth in particular.
The Lifetime Skills Guarantee will provide the labour force with the training, enabling them to take advantage of these opportunities that would be avail of due to the green industrial revolution and the green economy.
The UK government has already committed over £5 billion to assist a green recovery. This plan, among other things, has mobilised £12 billion, perhaps, potentially more than three times as much from the private sector to place green jobs at the heart of UK’s economic revival.
UK leads in green technology
A cardinal objective of the master plan is to put the UK at the forefront of global markets for clean technology and it has been forecasted that 83 per cent of the $13.3 trillion of global investment in electricity systems by 2050 could be in zero-carbon technologies.
The 10 point-plan’s focused areas are harnessing wind power through extensive offshore wind farm, nuclear energy and developing and promoting hydrogen technologies.
The carbon neutral green energy, thus, generated would be utilised for running cars, buses, trucks and trains, ships and planes, and heating homes and at the same time, drastically reducing costs.
Another mode of reducing carbon footprint is to develop carbon capturing technologies; the UK will pioneer a new British industry dedicated to its capture carbon and return to under the North Sea.
Havens of biodiversity
In addition to these measures, the UK will harness Mother Nature’s ability to absorb carbon by setting up new National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and ,thus, creating greater havens of biodiversity. This will ensure that the UK will protecting 30% of England’s countryside by 2030.
The Britain will also support farmers to produce high-quality food, while nourishing a healthy soils that will also retain and, over time, capture carbon. Peatlands and woodlands throughout the UK will be restored to create the Nature Recovery Network and wilder landscapes. This will generate a host of new jobs in nature and land management and also help communities to protect themselves from the already observable adverse effects of climate change by making substantial investments in flood defences and using nature-based solutions to increase flood resilience.
Hopes, fears and expectations
As reported by the Guardian of UK, the Greenpeace, welcomed the plan; “the measures marked a notable step forward for tackling the climate emergency”. It said, “This landmark announcement signals the end of the road for polluting cars and vans and a historic turning point on climate action.” The group also warned the scheme also had flaws.
“It’s a shame the prime minister remains fixated on other speculative solutions, such as nuclear and hydrogen from fossil fuels, that will not be taking us to zero emissions anytime soon, if ever,” said Rebecca Newsom, Greenpeace UK’s head of politics.
Although the programme is estimated to cost £12bn, Downing Street says £8bn of this is new, while Labour believed only £4bn was new spending.
The envisaged plan will help the UK to reclaim its position as a ‘global Britain’ and to become a power house of knowledge, green technology. With this, the UK will achieve one of its major goals that is to become a leader in promoting environment protection.
Among other nations that would profit from the initiatives are the Commonwealth of Nations that would, get preferential access to green technologies, business models and know-how that are being developed in the UK.
The 10-point plan in a nutshell
- A ban on combustion engine sales by 2030, with grants for electric cars, and funding for charge points. The sale of some hybrid cars and vans will continue until 2035.
- A previously announced pledge to quadruple offshore wind power by 2030, to 40GW, enough to power every UK home.
- Moves to boost hydrogen production, with the promise of a town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.
- Investment of £525m towards new nuclear power, based on “the next generation of small and advanced reactors”.
- £1bn next year for funds to insulate homes and public buildings, using the existing green homes grant and public sector decarbonisation scheme.
- An extra £200m invested in carbon capture initiatives. Support for greener energies in the aviation and maritime sectors, with £20m committed to the latter.
- 30,000 hectares of trees planted every year, as part of nature conservation efforts.
- Moves to promote public transport, cycling and walking, although no new schemes were announced.
- A pledge to make London “the global centre of green finance”.
