BUDGET 2020: THE GOVERNMENT'S PLANS FOR 'GETTING SUSTAINABILITY DONE'

The Government's priorities for supporting the transition to zero-carbon society and protecting the environment were outlined during Chancellor of the Exchequor, Rishi Sunak’s spring 2020 budget. Below are the key points he announced in his speech and, as ever, the real-life implications will become clearer as the details are revealed during the coming few weeks.

Climate change and energy

• changes to the Climate Change Levy, which currently taxes electricity more than gas even though gas is proving harder to de-carbonise, will be brought in: tax on gas will increase whereas tax on electricity will be frozen
• a Green Gas Levy will be introduced to encourage development of greener fuels
• the carbon price rate will be frozen at £18/tCO2 for 2020-2021
• support for the installation of heat pumps and biomass boilers will be introduced through a Low-Carbon Heat Support Scheme. The government will consult on introducing a new grant scheme from April 2022 to help households and SMEs invest in heat pumps and biomass boilers, which will be backed by £100m in Government funding.
• funding for the Heat Networks Investment Project has been secured up to 2022 and provides £270m of new funding to “enable new and existing heat networks to adopt low-carbon heat sources”
• Carbon capture & storage (CCS) – at least £800 million will be invested in creating 2 or more new CCS clusters by 2030 which will store millions of tonnes of CO2, creating up to 6,000 high skill, high wage low-carbon jobs in economically deprived areas e.g. Teeside, Merseyside, Humberside
• Investment for the Energy Innovation Programme will be doubled to £1 billion to assist finding cleaner fuels and alternatives to red diesel
• an Industrial Energy Transformation Fund of £315 million will be introduced to help energy-intensive companies to make the shift to low carbon and reduce bills through energy efficiency  
• the Government will consult on creating a new Business Energy Efficiency Scheme to assist smaller businesses reduce carbon emissions and energy bills
• £640 million will be available to create a new Nature for Climate Fund:

        - £60 million to plant 30,000 hectares of trees during the next 5 years, an               area the same size as Birmingham (£10 million for planting new trees and             £50 million to purchase credits from landowners planting trees) 
        - restore 30,000 hectares of peatland for carbon storage

• a new National Infrastructure Commission will produce a report in spring 2020 looking at how to increase climate resilience of UK's infrastructure 

Plastics, waste & pollution

•  In April 2022, a plastic tax will be introduced of £200/tonne on manufactured and imported plastic packaging containing <30% recycled plastic. A consultation on the details and timetable will be carried out 
• The Government pledged to reform the Packaging Producers' Responsibility System but it won't introduce a levy on disposable cups 
• £10 million will be set aside for more plastics R&D  
• £10 million will be directed at innovative approaches to boosting recycling and reducing litter 
• £15 million will be given to charities to redistribute surplus food 
• up to £10 million will be given to Environment Agency to clear the worst abandoned waste sites that blight local communities 
• An undisclosed amount will be invested in developing a digital waste tracking scheme to provide more  data about the waste journey
• £2 million to be invested in developing ways to combat fly tipping
• £304 million will be available for local authorities to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions to assist tackling pollution in cities
• the Aggregates Levy rates will be frozen 

Transport

• Red diesel scheme will be abolished in 2022 except for farmers, domestic heating, rail and fishing. Currently, selected users pay only 11p/litre tax for red diesel compared to 58p/litre for diesel cars.  
• The Government will adopt a ‘tax and spend’ approach to cut price of buying zero or low carbon taxis, cars, vans, motorbikes
• £500 million will be invested in rapid charging hubs so that drivers are never more than 30 miles from a charger, including a Rapid Charger Fund to help businesses connect chargers to the electricity grid
• £403 million will be available to extend the Plug-in grant to 2023. £129.5 million will be available for a similar grant for taxis, vans and motorcycles up to 2023
• Zero-emission cars will be exempt from the Vehicle Exise Duty’s ‘expensive car supplement’
• Enhanced Capital Allowances are being extended to 2023 to include electric vehicle charge points 
• £90 million will be used to trial new smart-transport technology 

Biodiversity

• A Nature Recovery Network will be created to enable businesses & communities to collaborate on existing wildlife restoration projects.
• A Natural Environment Impact Fund will be set up to help ‘prepare green projects that could be suitable for commercial investment’ to drive private sector support for environmental restoration
• Funding will triple for the Darwin project – which protects and conserves ‘globally significant’ wildlife found in UK Overseas Territories. There is also £220 million allocated for protecting wildlife in developing countries  

Innovation  

• >£900 million will be invested in R&D for nuclear fusion, space & electric vehicles
• £800 million will be invested in the Blue Skies Funding Agency to promote new innovation
• £400 million will be available for high quality research around the country, not focussing on London any more
• Government is committed to creating 1.5 million “high skill, low-carbon jobs of the future”
• £2.4 billion will be invested into the Transforming Cities Fund 

BBC Radio 4's 'World at One' featured live coverage of budget. Hear Chancellor Rishi Sunak outlining the Budget’s environmental provisions at 53:25 minutes  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000g44j

More details outlining the Budget’s green policies can be read here: https://www.edie.net/news/11/Clean-transport--CCS-and-biodiversity-championed-in-Budget-2020/?utm_source=dailynewsletter,%20edie%20daily%20newsletter&utm_medium=email,%20email&utm_content=news&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter,%20fe15d492fa-dailynewsletter_COPY_756
 
Read some of the reaction to the Budget’s sustainability proposals:

Edie newsroom: “A mixed picture: key green economy figures react to the Budget’s environmental provisions” https://www.edie.net/news/11/-A-mixed-picture---Key-green-economy-figures-react-to-the-Budget-s-environmental-provisions/?utm_source=dailynewsletter,%20edie%20daily%20newsletter&utm_medium=email,%20email&utm_content=news&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter,%20fe15d492fa-dailynewsletter_COPY_756

Damien Carrington, The Guardian: “Rishi Sunack fails to even mention energy efficiency, the no-brainer climate policy” https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/11/road-to-hell-budget-tarmacs-over-climate-ambition

Jon Stone, The Independent: “Budget endangers net-zero climate target passed by Theresa May just nine months ago” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2020-climate-crisis-net-zero-rishi-sunak-theresa-may-boris-johnson-a9394721.html

Chris Venables, Green Alliance, “Did this budget really ‘get it done’ for the environment?”: https://greenallianceblog.org.uk/2020/03/11/did-this-budget-really-get-it-done-on-the-environment/

​Jonny Bairstow, Energy Live News, “Budget 2020: industry responds” https://www.energylivenews.com/2020/03/11/budget-2020-industry-responds/