Miliband pledges to lead the way in clean energy and demand corporate net-zero strategies

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said that Britain is on the right track by cutting emissions and investing in a green economy. He also pledged to press large companies to explain how they will align their business with this shift.

Opposition parties are putting pressure on the government over perceived costs associated with the move to net zero emission at a moment when energy prices remain high after Europe has shifted away from Russian imports due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Miliband, speaking to climate investors, scientists, and civil society groups during the London Climate Action Week in London, reaffirmed his commitment to decarbonising and stimulating green business.

"Our mission is make Britain a superpower in clean energy by accelerating net zero throughout the economy," he said at the flagship conference of the climate festival. The event brings together more than 45,000 delegates who attend over 700 side events.

The plan will require large companies to present detailed plans on how they will reduce their carbon emissions in order to meet the target of keeping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

London is also being positioned as a sustainable finance hub by the government. In a statement on Wednesday, it said it was weighing new sustainability reporting standards, which set out the information companies must provide to investors on sustainability-related financial risks and opportunities.

Miliband stated that while the increasing severity of weather events and the Russian invasion of Ukraine highlighted the urgency of the Climate Crisis, the rising prices of energy and the increased security of energy from renewable sources also highlighted the need for cheaper energy.

He said: "Ours is... a determination that will not let us be dragged down by the fossil fuel market rollercoaster. We want to replace it with cleaner, cheaper energy produced at home, which we can control."

Independent advisers on climate change to the British government said that Britain's plans for reaching net zero emissions by 2050 are dependent on its ability reduce energy prices and accelerate the adoption of technology to curb emissions, such as electric cars and heat pumps.

Piers Forster said, "Our most important recommendation to the government, is that it reduces the cost of electricty for both households and businesses." This was during a briefing on the annual progress report of the Committee on Climate Change.

Miliband made his comments about green growth after the British Industrial Strategy was published earlier this week. The strategy outlined plans to invest over 30 billion pounds ($40.84billion) per year in renewable energy by 2035.

Energy Transitions Commission and Systemiq conducted a new analysis yesterday that found 40% of the solutions required to get the economy to net zero, such as twinning solar and battery storage, were already cheaper than fossil fuels and would be so by 2030.

Adair Turner, chair of the Energy Transitions Commission said: "We need to have the right policies in place to allow other sectors to reach this tipping point and for all countries to benefit from the opportunities that are created." $ 1 = 0.7346 pounds (Editing by Joe Bavier; Additional reporting by Susanna Twiddale, Will James, and Sachin Ravikumar)

(source: Reuters)