Industry reaction to Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister

As Rishi Sunak enters the door of No 10 as the UK’s third prime minister this year, the energy industry and green groups are weighing up what his administration could mean for energy policy, climate change and net zero.

Historically, Sunak has voted against measures to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and as Chancellor he cut funding to energy efficiency programmes, such as ECO. However, with the departure of Liz “fracking” Truss, stakeholders are hopeful that the new PM will make a fresh start by putting in place long-term policies that will ease the cost of energy crisis and deliver on the government’s climate targets.

Here, we round up some comment from across the industry reflecting on the opportunities and challenges Mr Sunak will face as prime minister.

The Green Building Council’s director of communications, policy & places Simon McWhirter said:
“In his last campaign to become PM, Rishi Sunak rightly promised to lead a national effort to cut energy waste and insulate millions of homes. Our industry is ready to support him to deliver on it.

“Greening homes, offices, public buildings and infrastructure is a massive growth opportunity for UK PLC and one the new Prime Minister can’t afford to miss as he seeks to steady the ship of government and charts a fresh course.

“The new PM also has an opportunity to ditch controversial and unwise policies such as the recently mooted Investment Zones, where planning and environmental protections were set to be torn up. This was a recipe for more conflict and delay over new home and building developments. Businesses don’t want a race to the bottom. Instead, they need certainty and ambition to deliver much-needed green growth and investment. That’s why our planning system needs to be overhauled to bring it into line with the UK’s legally-binding climate and nature commitments.”

RIBA president Simon Allford said:
“In these tumultuous times, people and businesses across the country need reassurance and stability – Rishi Sunak must provide this. With inflation soaring, energy prices surging, and the housing and climate crises worsening, achieving this will be no mean feat. The government must recognise that in addition to construction being a key driver of growth, buildings are long term assets – critical to our quality of life and wellbeing. Architects and the wider built environment sector stand ready to work with the government to create a better future for all.

“To do this, the new government must ensure we have the housing we need; create a well-resourced and efficient planning system; implement a National Retrofit Strategy; and embed a clear and effective building safety regime.”

Eddie Tuttle, policy, research and public affairs director at CIOB, said:
“Levelling up, net zero and energy efficiency in existing and new housing remain key issues we’d like the new PM and the cabinet to focus on in relation to immediate priorities, which will clearly be the economy and cost of living crisis. The levelling up agenda provides significant opportunities for the construction sector, through local job creation and stability, while property retrofit schemes to improve energy efficiency, for example, will further boost the sector and go some way to helping residents mitigate rising energy costs. Long term infrastructure and capital investment planning is also very much needed to provide a level of assurance and confidence for the industry and its supply chain together with the need to address the current delays in the planning system which are constraining supply.”

RenewableUK’s chief executive Dan McGrail said:
“Cutting people’s energy bills and boosting energy security will be high on the new Prime Minister’s agenda, so we’re keen to work with Mr Sunak to achieve this as fast as possible.

“This means pulling out all the stops to quadruple our offshore wind capacity by 2030, as it’s the UK’s cheapest source of new power. This will deliver nearly 100,000 jobs and over £150 billion in private investment. It will also enable us to secure massive industrial benefits with factories opening up in ports around the UK as we build up our supply chain.

“We’re also urging the new Prime Minister to maintain the Conservatives’ commitment to lifting the block on onshore wind in England, as it has the support of over 70% of the public and over 80% of Conservative voters.

“We need a wide range of power sources to get us to net zero as fast as possible, including floating wind, tidal energy and green hydrogen – and the UK is a world leader in all of these technologies.

“But to seize these opportunities we’re urging Mr Sunak to reassess of some of the Conservatives’ recent measures which risk undermining confidence among investors, such as the energy price cap which could skew investment towards fossil fuels. We also need to see a reform of our system of clean power auctions to increase the volume of new capacity we secure each year. And we need a new remit for Ofgem so that it can start investing in vital new grid infrastructure ahead of time so that we can reach net zero as fast as possible”.

Kierra Box, campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:
“The dual cost of living and climate crises remain the biggest challenges for the new Prime Minister, but they’re now even more pressing thanks to the political chaos and environmental back-pedalling of recent weeks.

“Rishi Sunak has pledged he’ll deliver on the government’s climate targets. Yet his track record as Chancellor – which saw new North Sea oil and gas fast-tracked, levies for domestic flights cut and a weak windfall tax on profiting fossil fuel companies imposed – suggests otherwise.

“He also backed fracking with community consent during the summer leadership race, but this proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Liz Truss’ premiership.

“If Rishi Sunak plans to outlast his predecessor, he must learn from her mistakes, abandon runaway deregulation and the attack on nature and choose the sensible solutions to the cost of living and climate crises. That means saying no to more fossil fuels – including a new coal mine in Cumbria – as well as fixing our heat-leaking homes and boosting investment in cheap, clean popular renewables, which will lower bills and harmful emissions.”