The bosses behind Britain’s multibillion-pound clean energy rollout have warned the government that the UK’s difficult economic circumstances and political uncertainty have taken a toll on investor confidence.
About 20 industry bosses representing companies from across the sector attended a summit at No 10 to discuss their plans to invest more than £100bn in the UK economy.
Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, convened the meeting days after the prime minister ignited a row with green groups, opposition parties and the Conservative party’s backbench MPs over his plans to “max out” the North Sea’s reserves.
One industry leader said Shapps “took great pains” to assure the bosses poised to invest billions in low- and zero-carbon projects that the government remained committed to its climate ambitions.
In response, the industry leaders – from renewable energy developers to big oil companies – told ministers that investor interest in the UK was “not as great as it used to be” because of Britain’s “difficult economic circumstances” and uncertain political landscape.
“It’s all dampening investor confidence, and everyone was worried about it. It’s good that the government has heard these concerns. Hopefully this is the beginning of a conversation about how to move forward,” the attender said.
Ana Musat, RenewableUK’s executive director, who attended the meeting, said there was “widespread agreement of the need to improve the UK’s investment environment.
“We are all aware that prioritising the rollout of cheap, homegrown renewable energy projects is essential to strengthen Britain’s energy security,” she said.
David Bunch, the country chair for Shell UK, said: “This was a productive meeting. Shell UK has already set out significant investment ambitions to support the country’s energy security and transition to a low-carbon energy system.
“The conditions for these investments are crucially dependent on fiscal stability, clarity of business models and ensuring shareholder value.”
Speaking after the event Shapps said: “The consensus among energy firms was clear – there are immense opportunities ahead and these can only be seized if the UK government, industry and regulators work together across the sector to accelerate investment into renewables, bring down bills and deliver on net zero.”
Before the summit, Shapps was forced to defend the government’s stance on North Sea drilling against criticism that the plans were incompatible with Britain’s ambitions to become a net zero economy.
Rishi Sunak set out plans earlier this week to extract as much oil and gas from the North Sea as possible through 100 or more new drilling licences alongside a £20bn package of support for carbon capture and storage technology, which is largely backed by oil companies.
The Conservative MP Chris Skidmore, who authored an influential government review into net zero, said the decision to continue North Sea oil exploration was “the wrong decision at precisely the wrong time when the rest of the world is experiencing record heatwaves”.
Shapps told GB News it would be “irresponsible” not to grant new oil and gas licences in the North Sea and insisted the UK would “still meet our net zero targets”.
“Everyone supports this country’s transition to net zero but we cannot get there by telling people ‘we’re simply going to stop using oil and gas’. The only way to do that would be to tell people ‘don’t put your gas boiler on, don’t drive a petrol car’ – and do that almost instantaneously,” Shapps said.
“Unless you do that, what you’re really saying is ‘we’re not going to dig our own oil and gas, we’ll import instead’. Yes, we’ll have more oil and gas licences but we’ll still meet our net zero targets because we’re also massively investing in all these renewables as well.”
