One of the centrepieces of the new Labour administration’s policy agenda is its commitment to a transition to net zero, underpinned by the mission: make Britain a clean energy superpower. Since being elected, with this as a key part of their manifesto, Labour has already introduced legislation to launch the nationally owned GB Energy, loosened planning regulations for new onshore wind projects, and kicked off the rollout of a National Wealth Fund, with clean energy at its heart.
And as crucial as this transition is for the future of the planet, it’s also increasingly central to the economic future of the nation as well. The opportunities offered by the growth of new technologies, the green reinvention of traditional industries, the jobs and skills, the supply-chain contracts and the investment in communities across the UK have the potential to be genuinely transformative and multi-generational in their scope and breadth.
For all this, the transition to net zero remains contentious, however, with questions over costs, impacts and disruptions. For many, how the changes will play out is at best confusing or unclear; and at worst a potential threat to their jobs or communities.
That’s why, last year, the University of Nottingham – at which I am fortunate enough to be an honorary professor – instigated a Policy Commission to bring together expert commissioners and witnesses from across a variety of sectors including academia, business, the trade unions, civil society and local government to consider how to balance these issues. How can the clear and pressing need to transition to a low-carbon energy system (and, more widely, economy), with all the associated benefits this brings, be delivered in a way that also addresses the individual or community concerns that such large-scale change inevitably prompts?
After hearing evidence from a whole range of expert witnesses, the Policy Commission has now published its recommendations, at the heart of which is a call for the UK government to embed a set of principles designed to ensure fairness and opportunity around the transition to net zero. Through these, the government can establish a guiding framework that can then be used as, essentially, a mission statement for how relevant departments, non-departmental public bodies, state bodies and the wider public sector should approach the issue and its delivery.
"Our recommendations are not a panacea. But they provide a vital framework for policymakers"
Without this move, there is a risk that Westminster and Whitehall fall further behind the devolved administrations, who have already taken significant action in this area. The Scottish Government passed the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, which established its ambition in this area; and the independent Just Transition Commission has been in place, in one guise or another, since 2019. The Welsh Government has progressed consultation and set out its approach to a just transition, tying it closely to its flagship Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. And the Northern Ireland Assembly has embedded the principle of a just transition in its Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) Act 2022, which sets out the intention to also establish a commission to lead on the issue.
Meanwhile, the UK government has nothing comparable in place, either in terms of a lead body or the overarching principles that can help guide and focus the overall push from the state to help ensure a just transition. The starting point should, therefore, be for the UK to establish just such a framework that can act as the single point of reference for all relevant departments and agencies on the issue.
To support this, the report also calls on the government to continue to form a positive narrative around decarbonisation to garner public support, as well as setting up “transition taskforces” to enable those impacted by the energy transition to have power over the relevant policies. It also touches on some of these key areas of policy that will help turn the words into action, including utilising the industrial strategy to help deliver a just transition – in particular, learning from best practice in other countries to maximise jobs, investment and opportunities – and ensuring an enhanced focus on community benefits associated with hosting new energy infrastructure, alongside the government’s wider planning reforms.
Our recommendations are not a panacea. But they do, we believe, provide a vital framework for policymakers, offering the tools needed to navigate the complexities of this generational shift. It is a challenge to which we must rise – both for the future of our nation and for the world.
Lord Watson of Wyre Forest is chair of the University of Nottingham's Policy Commission on a Just Transition to Net Zero. He was deputy leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2019, and served as minister for digital engagement and civil service issues in Gordon Brown's cabinet from 2008 to 2009
Read the University of Nottingham Policy Commission report in full here