MP welcomes Prime Minister's green blueprint

Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes (pictured) has welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement of a ten-point plan for a "green industrial revolution" which aims to create and support up to 250,000 British jobs.

Covering clean energy, transport, nature and innovative technologies, the blueprint sets out to allow the UK to eradicate its contribution to climate change by 2050, particularly crucial in the run up to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow next year.

The plan – which is part of the PM’s mission to "level up" across the country - will use £12 billion of government investment to create and support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs in the UK, and spur over three times as much private sector investment by 2030.

At the centre of the plan are the UK’s industrial heartlands, including Wales.

The Prime Minister’s ten points, which are built around the UK’s strengths, are:

1. Offshore wind: Producing enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we produce to 40GW by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs.

2. Hydrogen: Working with industry aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, developing the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.

3. Nuclear: Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source, across large scale nuclear and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors, which could support 10,000 jobs.

4. Electric vehicles: Backing our world-leading car manufacturing bases including in the West Midlands, North East and North Wales to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, and transforming our national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles.

5.Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport of the future.

6. Jet Zero and greener maritime: Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.

7. Homes and public buildings: Making our homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, whilst creating 50,000 jobs by 2030, and a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.

8. Carbon capture: Becoming 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, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber today.

9. Nature: Protecting and restoring our natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year, whilst creating and retaining thousands of jobs.

10. 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.

Simon Baynes MP said: “The Prime Minister’s announcement is hugely ambitious and will turbo-charge a green industrial revolution across Wales and the UK.

“With its established offshore wind, nuclear and electric vehicle industries, Wales is exceptionally well-placed to drive forward decarbonisation of energy, industry and domestic heating and be a centre for innovation in green technology like carbon capture."