Single regulator needed to smooth energy
transition
Electric vehicles and new technologies can be major
liberating forces shaping this century, in the same way that
fossil fuels transformed the twentieth century, the CBI’s
Director-General said today (Wednesday).
In a speech to the BP/CharIN Powering the Charge
Conference at BP, Carolyn Fairbairn said that business is
fundamental to delivering the move away from fossil fuels to
cleaner alternatives and is enthusiastic about the opportunities
this will bring.
The head of Britain’s largest business group also
said that such a transition can only happen if politicians put an
end to adversarial politics and come together in a spirit of
consensus and at all levels, for example, through a cross-party
Commission. She also suggested a change to the UK’s current
regulatory system to smooth the transition to new
infrastructure.
On political consensus, Carolyn
said:
“What we’ve learned from Brexit is not that political
consensus on the biggest questions is impossible, but that it is
essential.
“Brexit has been a lesson in the folly of trying to
enact large-scale change without political consensus – it just
doesn’t work.
“The age of adversarial politics is – necessarily –
over. My suggestion isn’t a complicated one – it’s simply to ask
our politicians to do what they are belatedly seeking to do on
Brexit, and come together.
“The political debate on climate change is over. But
the debate over the response is not. On the mechanism, we’re
open-minded.
“It could be something as defined and prescribed as a
new, cross-party commission on the energy transition. Or as
simple and as indefinable as a new attitude in
parliament.
“If we get this right, it could deliver the main
thing that business needs above all else – long-term
certainty for investment.”
On a single regulator for the energy
transition, Carolyn said:
“Today, if you want to install an electric vehicle
charge point, you must deal with multiple regulators and agencies
– Ofgem, the local planning authority, the National Grid – each
of which has different standards, different levels of
responsiveness, operating under different
legislation.
“It’s a complex picture and it’s already having
consequences. We have 22,000 charge points across the country,
but the spread is inconsistent as one area pulls ahead of
another.
“There might be an opportunity here to consolidate
some of that variation, to create national oversight and perhaps
to nominate a single regulator companies must deal with. It might
mean taking powers from one place and putting them somewhere
else.
“But if it would help, and if this challenge is as
great as we believe it to be, there’s surely a compelling case
for change.”
On the role of business in the energy
transition, Carolyn said:
“The harnessing of hydrocarbons to fuel transport was
one of the great liberating forces of the 20th Century, making
possible the mass movement of people and products at
speed.
“Life today is immeasurably better as a result. But
we now know that the use of hydrocarbons for transport also has
harmful implications.
“Our task now is to make the electrification of
transport one of the liberating forces of the 21st Century.
Retaining the advantages of hydrocarbon fuels and their power to
move people and products, but doing so in a way that is cleaner,
safer and more efficient.
“For that, we need business and government in
partnership. That’s how we’ve succeeded so far. How, since 1990,
we’ve grown our economy by more than 60% while cutting carbon
emissions by more than 40%. How, last year, 53% of our
electricity came from low-carbon sources. And we have now gone
162 hours without coal - by far the longest period since the
industrial revolution.
“Let’s be clear – none of that could have been
achieved without business. And it’s because the energy transition
is so pressing and so difficult that we need business to deliver
change. It can’t be done any other way.
“It is the free market, with its ability to match
demand with supply, its unique power to drive innovation through
competition and its capacity to pit technologies one against the
other that will make the transition possible.
“When I visit CBI member companies and talk about
climate change I do not find hesitancy, reluctance, or fear of
the future. I find excitement about the prize that future can
bring: cleaner air in our towns and cities; better and safer
transport; healthier lives for our children, citizens, and
employees; and a global industry that by 2030 will be worth £2
trillion a year.”
Notes to Editors:
The CBI has signed a joint statement with BP and a
number of other companies on ultra-rapid charging. The
statement was publicly released last night (Tuesday 7 May
2019).
For the full text and list of signatories, please
visit https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/who-we-are/keep-advancing/future-of-transport/industry-statement-on-ultra-rapid-charging.html
