There is undoubted need for the transition to green energy in the face of climate breakdown. The new government has made clear that ‘NIMBYism’ will not hold up the construction of new energy infrastructure. The Environment Act 2021, and the Net Zero Strategy 2021, embodied the previous government’s emphasis on environmental sustainability and protection, alongside ‘clean growth’, as the way forward for the UK. This set out an ‘integration principle’ whereby policymakers should look for opportunities to embed environmental protection in other fields of policy that have impacts on the environment.
The analysis for this Working Paper was carried out before the 2024 UK General Election and change to a new Labour administration, but the policies in the review are still current. Given the current media interest in public concerns about the potential relaxation of planning controls in the push to speed up the roll-out green energy infrastructure, this working paper provides a timely insight into the alignment of energy and environment policy with regard to energy infrastructure. It reports the views and experiences of practitioners in local authorities and regional governmental organisations, energy industry representation and environmental organisations, who are working to implement the energy transition.
It will also be relevant to the newly launched Government consultation on a long-awaited Land Use Framework for England that aims to provide a strategic approach to managing land, balancing competing demands for restoring nature, food production, housebuilding and energy infrastructure.
The working paper discusses: