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On 17th July the King’s Speech, marking the beginning of a new parliamentary term, laid out the new Labour government’s policy agenda for the next few years. How does climate change feature in the plans?

Labour’s in-tray

The new government has not inherited an easy economic or policy landscape. With many pressing issues in the in-tray and a £20bn hole in public finances, there have been concerns that climate change and the environment would take a back seat – an outcome first teased when the Labour government slashed its original green pledge of £28bn a year a few months before the election.

The recent Climate Change Committee (CCC) report ‘Progress in Reducing Emissions’ also offers some sobering data for the new government. For the first time since beginning to set emission reduction targets, the UK is not on track to reach its goal. Despite having comfortably met its 2018-2022 emissions reduction target, the CCC has now found that the previous government implemented just a third of the policies necessary for the UK to reach its goal of a 68% emission reduction by 2030. The message from the CCC is clear: taking action on climate change could not be more pressing.

It’s some relief, then, that the King’s Speech demonstrates a policy agenda that could get the country moving towards decarbonisation, with a green dimension apparent across various policies, covering everything from institution building to planning reform and devolution.

What policies were in the King’s Speech?

Infrastructure investment

Two of the major policy announcements regarded new infrastructure investment bodies – Great British Energy (GBE) and the National Wealth Fund (NWF).

Great British Energy, one of Labour’s flagship initiatives, is a new, state-owned energy company. There has been some debate over whether GBE will act as an owner-operator of energy infrastructure or an investor solely seeking to ‘de-risk’ emerging technologies for private investors. GBE’s founding statement, published the following week, seemingly put this conversation to bed, stating that GBE ‘will own, manage and operate clean power projects’. However, more details about its structure and model will be available when the draft bill is introduced to parliament. A partnership project with The Crown Estate to invest in offshore wind has already been announced.

The NWF, similarly, will invest in green technologies like green steel and ‘gigafactories’ (factories producing batteries), with the hope of bringing in £3 of private sector investment for every £1 of public money. National wealth funds are already operating internationally and the announcement has been welcomed by think tanks that have been calling for the UK to establish its own.

Transport

Labour also announced several bills related to transport reform, including a bill to take the railways into public ownership as contracts expire and another to set up another state-owned company, Great British Railways, plus another bill that allows all local areas to franchise bus services, as they have been in London and Manchester, giving councils the power to set fares and routes.

Annual bus journeys have dropped by 1.5 bn since 1989 and there is widespread dissatisfaction with the cost and reliability of train services in the UK, but better public coordination (and investment) could help provide higher quality and more affordable public transport – vital at a time when we need more people to be choosing it.

Planning

A planning reform bill, ‘likely to be the most controversial’ of the environmentally-focused bills, will speed up the development consent process, allowing for development on green belt land and in places where development is currently opposed. The infrastructure needed for decarbonisation, including increased solar, battery, and onshore wind capacity, is likely to be opposed locally, but overcoming ‘net-zero nimbys’ is vital to decarbonisation efforts according to analysis by The Resolution Foundation. It’s also something Labour is seemingly not shying away from, considering three major solar farms that the Conservatives had blocked in the East of England have now been approved by Labour, despite local opposition.

Renter’s rights, skills & devolution

There are other, less obvious, climate-related bills in Labour’s initial agenda. The Renter’s Rights Bill, for example, gives tenants the power to ask for energy efficiency improvements without fear of eviction. The Skills England Bill seeks to rectify the severe skills shortages seen in some sectors, including those relating to decarbonisation, by working to create a simpler skills system and a clearer picture of local and national needs. Another bill, the English Devolution Bill, will give councils more powers, decentralising decision-making and potentially making pro-environment decisions more likely (though it remains to be seen how this will interact with planning reforms).

Is there enough investment and ambition?

The new Labour government has given indications it is taking the climate crisis seriously, including by hiring former CCC lead Chris Stark as clean power ‘mission control’, and a flurry of policy announcements including an end to the de facto ban on onshore wind and the (hinted at) ban on new North Sea oil drilling. The inclusion of relevant policies right across the King’s Speech is another positive sign that tackling climate change is a priority.

At the same time, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has repeatedly painted Labour as the new party of fiscal responsibility, with spending plans based on limited tax rises and careful borrowing, with future spending increases tied to hoped-for economic growth.

Whilst the positive signals from the King’s Speech have been acknowledged, various bodies in the environmental policy sector, including the CCC, think tanks, and campaign groups, are calling for significant investment and ambition now, warning that rapid decarbonisation is needed to meet emissions goals – and that a cautious approach will not be adequate.

A mandate to deliver

A major poll from the Institute of Public Policy Research following the general election also shows there is a significant mandate for this ambition and investment. The view that “government policy on climate change should be going faster than it is right now” beat the opposing view in all constituencies bar two, demonstrating that concern about the climate crisis and a drive towards decarbonisation crosses party lines – despite what culture war narratives would suggest.

Satisfying public demand, meeting national net zero targets, and sticking to its own fiscal rules will be no mean feat. Whatever approach the government takes, it’s clear it must act boldly to deliver the rapid decarbonisation we need to see.