The UK sets out its climate strategies: The UK unveiled its new energy strategy laying out the government’s approach for investments in renewable energy, carbon capture, and nature-based carbon mitigation projects, according to an energy security plan (pdf) released last week. The government also issued a flurry of announcements for a host of climate-focused sectors including EVs, nuclear, and green hydrogen, and announced its green finance strategy as it looks to become a “net-zero aligned financial center.”

Targets: The UK will launch a GBP 160 mn fund to boost offshore wind energy deployments through increased port infrastructure development, will fund the first tranche of new green hydrogen projects in the country under its GBP 240 mn Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, and will back incentives for renewables projects through a separate GBP 205 mn financing package, according to a government release. The UK also announced it would count nuclear energy as a “key technology” towards achieving its net-zero target for 2050, and lobbied for its inclusion under the UK Green Taxonomy, pending consultations.

The new plans have been drawing criticism: The new strategy — which was expected to rival the Biden Administration’s USD 370 bn Inflation Reduction Act — did not see the government commit to new investment that would advance the UK’s green energy capacity and net-zero targets, critics tell Reuters and the Guardian. Last month, UK Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said his country would not rival the EU’s Green Deal Industrial Plan and Biden’s IRA by channeling USD bns to provide green subsidies, and instead incentivizing private sector investments in green energy and climate mitigation projects.

Australia cracks down on big polluters: Australia plans to have 215 of the country’s biggest polluting facilities slash their emissions by 30% by 2030 as part of a newly approved climate policy coming into effect on 1 July, Reuters reported last week. All fresh gas projects in the Beetaloo Basin would also be required to hold new zero carbon emissions, with new gas fields supplying existing LNG plants to have new zero reservoir emissions per the legislation. The new legislation is part of the center-left Labor government’s push to curb emissions by 43% by 2030.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

  • US-based gas supplier Air Products — which is part of the JV developing NEOM’sUSD 8.5 bn green hydrogen plant — secured USD 130 mn in green hydrogen supply contracts from NASA. (Statement)
  • US-based EV manufacturer Lucid is laying off 18% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan to cut expenses. (Reuters)
  • The UK has selected the first wave of its carbon capture projects under a GBP 20 bn plan that the government plans to spend on the technology in the coming years. (Bloomberg)
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