UK Vows to Face Down NIMBYism to Deliver Rapid Energy Shift
(Bloomberg) -- The UK won’t let NIMBYism thwart the massive clean-energy build-out required to decarbonize the grid by 2030, the country’s energy secretary said Tuesday.
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The government sees a rapid transition as key to meeting climate commitments and protecting consumers from fossil-fuel price shocks, while driving economic growth. But the development of solar and wind farms and transmission towers is often opposed by local communities.
“We will take on the blockers, the delayers, the obstructionists,” Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband said at an industry conference in London. The government will need to make difficult decisions to realize the energy shift, he said.
In the first days of the new Labour government this summer, Miliband approved a series of major solar projects in England that are crucial to meeting climate goals but unpopular with some local residents.
To get the public on board, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration has said it wants people to see tangible benefits from new infrastructure. Those may include funds for community projects or initiatives that bring in locals as investors.
The UK has sought to shore up energy supplies since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine sent natural gas prices soaring. That experience showed that fossil fuels can’t provide the security and affordability the country needs, Miliband said.
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