Friday 18 October 2019

Sir John Armitt: Government needs to make real decisions, not just warm words

The government needs to make real decisions to get to net zero because warm words are not enough.

That's the call from the National Infrastructure Commission's (NIC) Sir John Armitt, who spoke to ELN earlier this week at Energy UK's annual conference.

He said driving towards a 2050 net zero goal is a great idea but stressed the difficult part was only just beginning - he said the main challenge would be to work out a suitable and effective programme of delivery and put it into action.

The NIC Chairman said the government needs to be more decisive and urged industry to take up the challenges presented to them, adding that will also have a vital role to play in working out how best to interpret and facilitate what the government is asking them to do.

Finally, he noted consumers need to understand what's being asked of them and help adopt the best behaviours able to contribute to net zero.

He said: "That is the challenge and I think it is the most difficult part of government is how do I change my bright ideas and things I'd like to do into actually delivering."