UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced today the launch of his 10-point plan for the UK’s Green Industrial Revolution. The plan will involve tens of billions of pounds of investments in areas including renewable energy, clean mobility and green building initiatives. The PM also announced that the UK will end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, ten years earlier than previously planned.

Prime Minister Johnson said:

“Although this year has taken a very different path to the one we expected, I haven’t lost sight of our ambitious plans to level up across the country. My Ten Point Plan will create, support and protect hundreds of thousands of green jobs, whilst making strides towards net zero by 2050.”

Key areas of Johnson’s plan include:

• Offshore wind: Quadrupling offshore wind production to 40GW by 2030, producing enough offshore wind to power every home. This is in line with the PM’s announcements made in October to invest in the sector.
• Hydrogen: Targeting generation of 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.
• Nuclear: Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source, across large scale nuclear and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors
• Electric vehicles: Accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), and transforming the national infrastructure to better support EVs.
• Homes and public buildings: Making homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient.
• Carbon capture: Establishing the UK as a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030.
• Innovation and finance: Developing the cutting-edge technologies needed to reach these new energy ambitions and make the City of London the global centre of green finance.

In February 2020, the UK’s Department for Transportation launched a consultation on ending the sale of petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and vans by 2040, 2035, or earlier, seeking views on topics including the phase out date, the definition of what should be included in the phase-out, and perceived barriers to achieving the proposals. Several investor groups have been urging the PM to set a date earlier than the originally targeted 2040.

As part of the ban on petrol and diesel cars, the PM announced that the sale of hybrid cars and vans that can drive a significant distance with no carbon coming out of the tailpipe will be allowed until 2035. Johnson announced significant investments to aid the automotive industry and accelerate the transition including £1.3 billion to accelerate the rollout of chargepoints for EVs, £582 million in grants for those buying zero or ultra-low emission vehicles, and nearly £500 million to be spent in the next four years for the development and mass-scale production of electric vehicle batteries.

Prime Minister Johnson added:

“Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales, so we can look ahead to a more prosperous, greener future.”