Election brings certainty: But what next for renewable energy?

The Conservative’s election win has brought an increased level of certainty in that the UK is now expected to leave the EU by 31 January 2020. But what does this mean for the future of renewable energy in the UK?

Chris Winward, commercial director at specialist energy from waste funder Privilege Finance, highlights that there is a lack of detail in the Conservative manifesto with regards to how this government will respond to the climate crisis or support renewable energy.

“The manifesto promised an ‘increasing commitment to renewables’, and it was encouraging to hear that there’s ambition to lead the way in tackling global climate change in the Queen’s speech for the opening of the new parliament, but so far there has been a disturbing lack of indication of what this means in real terms,” says Chris.

“In June, the UK became the first major economy to legislate a commitment to be net zero by 2050, which was a significant step. However, we really need to see some major progress towards implementing that target to avoid embarrassment in front of an international audience when the UK hosts the COP26 climate summit next year.”

For Chris, it is imperative that the renewable energy industry does not wait for government to catch up with regards to the urgency of responding to the climate crisis.

“Earlier this month, we launched our manifesto for renewable energy from waste, which outlines our commitments to respond to the emergency, and what other organisations and individuals can do to help make progress.”

“As a company, we made a conscious decision to specialise in the area of energy from waste because of the potential for these technologies to form part of the solution to both the climate crisis and wider social issues.

“It is unacceptable that in 2018, more than one in ten UK households experienced fuel poverty[1]. Likewise, it is unacceptable for materials to continue to be sent to landfill when they could have another use, such as being processed through anaerobic digestion plants to produce biogas that could fuel homes.”

“It is our vision to see an increase in the production of biogas produced from energy from waste technologies to help reduce the cost for UK residents to heat their homes.”

View the Privilege Finance energy from waste manifesto here: https://www.privilege.finance/our-manifesto/

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/fuel-poverty-uk-figures-poor-bills-cost-households-a8417426.html

Chris Winward