The UK government was due to make an announcement on the possibility of a more ambitious timeline for the ban of combustion vehicles in the coming few days, and sources have already told both the BBC and the Financial Times that the ban will indeed be brought forward to 2030.
Provisional figures published by the UK Government on Thursday show that renewable energy sources generated a record amount of electricity in 2018, increasing by 11.8% over 2017 levels, led by a record year for wind energy generation which provided 17.1% of the UK’s electricity.
The United Kingdom has finally announced the launch of its much-anticipated Offshore Wind Sector Deal, which will see the country’s offshore industry invest at least £250 million so as to ensure offshore wind generates more than 30% of the country’s electricity by 2030.
The UK Government on Tuesday finally proposed what amounts to relatively mediocre guidelines intended to support the development of small-scale renewable energy technologies by ensuring remuneration for any and all electricity generated that is supplied to the grid by small-scale generators.
The UK Government and the International Finance Corporation announced earlier this week that they were committing to mobilize $2 billion in public and private sector financing for certified green buildings in emerging markets in an effort to transform overseas construction markets.
The UK Government last week announced it will stretch its public sector greenhouse gas emissions reduction target to 43% by 2019 to 2020 based on 2009 to 2010 levels in a move the government hopes will result in £340 million in savings.
The UK offshore wind industry has this week committed to working with the Government on a “transformative” sector deal that could spur £48 billion in new investments in the country’s infrastructure and increase offshore wind capacity to 30 gigawatts by 2030.
An unwritten UK Government promise of “no subsidies” for onshore wind is blocking potential development of the cheapest form of new electricity generation and could end up costing more than £1 billion over the next four to five years relative to other technologies.
The UK Government has announced an ambitious new Clean Growth Strategy to drastically cut carbon emissions and combat climate change, including £557 million for the country’s third renewable energy Contracts for Difference auction set for spring of 2019.
The sale of the UK’s Green Investment Bank, which has led more than £15 billion of investment into UK green infrastructure, has officially been sold to Australia bank Macquarie Group for £2.3 billion.
