Great British Energy (GBE), a new publicly owned energy company being set up by the Government, will be endowed with £8.3 billion over the course of this Parliament to drive forward investment in clean, home-grown energy production.
Legislation to set up the new body has been scrutinised in the Lords, and while the Government’s aim is for the new body to support reaching our clean power targets, there was no mention of contributing to reaching net zero in the Bill.
P4P Peers made the case for greater clarity on GBE’s delivery role and the type of projects it will involve itself in, and successfully secured improvements to ensure its activities will support sustainable development and local communities for a fair transition.
Giving GBE a climate and nature duty
P4P Peers made a sustained case for giving GBE a duty to further the achievement of our climate and nature targets, so that it can be clear about its role in supporting decarbonisation and delivering our environmental targets, as a potential major asset holder of critical national infrastructure.
Following the arguments put forward by Peers to give the new organisation a climate and nature duty, the Government agreed to amend the Bill giving GBE a ‘sustainable development’ objective. It assured the House at the Dispatch Box that this would include consideration of GBE’s contribution to achieving relevant targets under both the Climate Change Act 2008 and the Environment Act 2021, and will be placed in the Framework Document to be published once the organisation is formally established. It will also be required to consider climate change adaptation - further aligning GBE with our national climate, nature and adaptation efforts.
Supporting community energy
Although community energy was technically permissible under the Government’s drafting, Peers successfully secured changes that will make it clear that community energy is a priority investment area and it is now named on the face of the Bill. This will give the sector reassurance, after many years of turbulence, that it will be supported in its desire to grow and benefit communities, while also making an important contribution to decarbonising the grid.
Peers also pressed for greater clarity on how GBE will prioritise its investments and raised concerns about investing in areas such as biomass power generation, where questions remain over its actual sustainability. They also suggested that GBE could play a role in public engagement to ensure support for the transition to net zero,
Other changes that were made to the Bill in the House of Lords included more stringent reporting requirements and review mechanisms to assesses the organisations effectiveness of delivering against its aims.
The Great British Energy Bill, has now passed through both Houses and awaits its final parliamentary stages before becoming law.
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