Labour has appointed Britain’s former top climate adviser to spearhead a vaccine delivery-style effort to hit its ambitious target of building a clean electricity grid by 2030.
Chris Stark will lead a new “control centre” co-ordinating efforts across Whitehall to meet the flagship goal. He will also work with Ofgem, the energy regulator, and National Grid to help resolve grid connection delays that have plagued wind and solar projects.
“By taking action now, we can put the UK at the forefront of the global race to net zero — driving down our carbon emissions but also cutting bills for households,” said Stark.
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said that the former climate chief would bring together the “brightest and best in the national interest” for a “laser-like focus” on squeezing fossil fuels out of the grid.
Stark was the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, the statutory body that advises the government on how to meet its legally-binding carbon targets, for the past six years. In April he left to join the non-profit Carbon Trust to focus on how the private sector could accelerate action on climate change.
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Asked just over a year ago if Labour’s 2030 clean power target was feasible, Stark told The Times that it would be a “huge challenge” but he did not think it was impossible. “They would have to turn absolutely everything towards this on day one of that administration, if they wanted to pull it off,” he said.
He has also said that Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to water down Labour’s flagship policy of spending £28 billion a year on green energy should not derail the 2030 goal, because most of it will be delivered by the private sector.
Stark said that while solar and wind power would be key to meeting the target, removing the last emissions from the electricity grid would probably require either hydrogen power stations or gas power plants that capture and store their emissions.
The former adviser is well connected and liked among environment groups, the renewable energy industry and other parts of the private sector.
The government has already made one significant start, by lifting an effective ban on onshore wind farms this week and promising to make planning decisions on major projects a decision for Miliband rather than local authorities. Nonetheless, meeting the 2030 goal is considered to be a very difficult aim by energy experts.
