The Problems with Labour’s Green Industrial Revolution

So, you’ve clicked on the clickbait title, good, you’re mildly engaged with this question, that’s better than most of Labour, or any other major UK political party.

I’ve worked in the renewable energy industry for over ten years. I’m a director of a renewable energy company, finishing off a part time PhD in Life Cycle Assessment, and have worked far far too hard trying to make a difference. Behind all the positive headlines that will be printed over the UK’s deployment of renewables, there’s a story of collapsed companies, mass redundancies, taxes on renewables, heavy anti-renewable policies and policies whose only purpose seems to be to prevent the decarbonisation of society. The major, deep problem is the damage of the whole renewables supply chain. This isn’t just policies that harm renewable energy deployment, the impacts on current government policies have disassembled the supply chain to the point where it will take years to recover. Whilst this has happened, Labour have done nothing, and simply sat back and failed in every way to oppose such policies. Most importantly, Labour’s power at a local authority level has not been used effectively. 

The fundamental issue for Labour is that there is a significant disconnect between the parliamentary Labour Party and the local authority version. So whilst Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonald can talk about a green industrial revolution, local authorities do not prioritise making any changes. Local authorities up and down the country will declare Climate Emergencies, but at the same time, they are supporting new coal mines, regressive transport policies, allowing poor housing standards, and worse. There seems to be a belief that declaring a Climate Emergency is the end, whereas it in reality is only the beginning. Local authorities do not act like it is an Emergency.

There have been many policy changes since 2010 from central government, which has seriously damaged the industry, some of these are;

1. Climate Change Levy changes
2. Changing of planning laws to effectively ban onshore wind in England and Wales
3. End of the Feed in Tariff
4. End of the Export Tariff
5. Green Deal (the inadvisable creation, collapse of the scheme, and lack of replacement)
6. 20% VAT on Solar (whilst keeping 5% VAT on coal)
7. Creation of the “Solar Tax” elements of business rates
8. Targeted Charging Review leading to additional charges on renewable energy generators
9. Uncertainty over the Smart Export Guarantee
10. Allowing the Capacity Market to act as an indirect subsidy of fossil fuels
11. De-rating batteries so they would not receive the same tariffs as fossil fuels under the Capacity Market
12. Removal of embedded benefits for distributed generation and storage

The largest issue is the end of the Zero Carbon Homes Policy, this was the most radical environmental policy the UK had. All domestic new build would be zero carbon from 2016 onward, and all commercial from 2019 onward. This policy was removed in 2015 at the request of Persimmon Homes. I feel deeply sad every time I see a new build estate, with no renewables, thinking about how it could have been. I feel especially sad when local authority owned organisations build new housing estates with no renewables. This policy could be brought back at a local authority level today, there is no legislation from central government to prevent it. This has effectively has already been done in Scotland for all new build. However, no English or Welsh local authority would ever dare.

The issue with the above policies, as anyone who works in any industry will understand, is that it is not purely some people losing jobs, there are significant supply chain issues. You dismantle a supply chain, and an industry is broken. The training centres, certification schemes, equipment resellers, designers, all of the industry is ruined. This is an extremely important point that Labour's Green Industrial Revolution fails to understand, you can’t just have large renewable targets, you need to look into how the entire supply chain can be repaired. This is a very large job, and one which Labour appear to have no idea how to address. Many electrical and heating installation companies are now extremely wary of getting into renewables, the experience of the past ten years is that it’s a very effective way to put yourself out of business. 

However, all of these are policies from central government, should Labour get the blame for this? To an extent, yes, as they have completely failed to act as an opposition. However, the major thing Labour could have done is keep the renewable energy supply chain operational through the use of the significant number of Local Authorities they have power over. It wouldn’t have stopped all of the damage, but it could have kept the supply chain alive. This is mainly through the use of the planning system. The Zero Carbon Homes policy could have been kept active at a Local Authority level, onshore wind could have been allowed through, coal mines/fracking could have been banned and subjected to far stricter monitoring. 

Recently, the Conservative Party has made some very positive announcements, a re-branded version of Labour's Zero Carbon Homes will be legally required from 2025. More excitingly, solar on new build has been promised from 2020, as energy efficiency rules will effectively force it on house builders. This is something myself and others have been pushing Labour local authorities to put in for some time, and it's quite a surprise that it is the Conservative Party championing this policy.

So, if there is to be a Green Industrial Revolution, what do Labour need to do to make it work? First, listen to those who know this sector in detail, we are all more than happy to give direction on what needs to be done.

Second, Labour needs to pull its Local Authorities and regional mayors into line, and start to enact local policies to actually make a difference. I don’t mean token solar installations, or employing yet another consultant for another district heating study. I also don’t mean a meaningless Climate Emergency declaration. We need real action. The clearest way to start rebuilding the solar supply chain would be to force solar on new build, no delays, just do it today, don't wait for some point in 2020 when the Conservative government will bring it in. Despite what some local authorities might claim, there is no legislation that prevents them from doing this. Bring in Labour's Zero Carbon Homes policy on a regional level from 2020, don't wait till 2025 for central government to allow it back. Using the Local Plans to support renewables, and banning coal mining and the build of fossil fuel power stations is also essential. Preventing coal mining companies from breaking the law would also have a significant impact (it shouldn’t have to be said).

Third, Labour need to use their understanding (from industry, please, just speak to us, it’s so frustrating knowing the answers and being ignored) in order to oppose policies which damage the renewable energy supply chain.

Labour needs to do everything it can using the power it has at a Local Authority level to change the tide now, so that industry is ready for the targets within the Green Industrial Revolution.

Essentially, this is a Climate Emergency, that contains the word Emergency. So to Labour, I say this, please, no more vague promises of a future Labour Government, no more green-wash or other procrastination. Act like this is the global emergency it is, use your local authorities and regional mayors effectively, and do something.

This is a petition to ask that as part of the recently declared Climate Emergency, all new build homes in Northumberland/Newcastle/North Tyneside to be build with 4kWp of solar photovoltaics installed.

The impacts of this will be;

1. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as the solar will generate roughly the same amount of electricity used within the homes (not counting electrical heating)
2. Creation and protection of jobs in solar installation companies within the region
3. Reduction of electricity bills for homeowners of approximately ￡300/year/home

This can be achieved through amending local planning legislation to require 85% of (non heating) net electricity to come from on-site renewables, a simple modification of the Merton Rule (which usually asks for 10%), which has existed since 2010 and has been used by many Local Authorities across the UK.

The impact of this will be to strengthen the local supply chain, increasing employment and reducing the costs of solar installations for local existing homes and businesses through increased competition.

There is no legislation from central government which could prevent this, as the Deregulation Bill, which could have removed these powers from Local Authorities, never completed its passage through parliament.

In order to be effective, this policy would need to be enacted immediately. Northumberland/Newcastle/North Tyneside council have all the powers necessary to immediately implement this