Thread by @_richardblack

Few thoughts on the energy and climate change elements of #Budget2020

Politically the motto seems to be 'first make no enemies' - so there are incentives and giveaways to stimulate 'green', but hardly anything to penalise 'brown' (other than limited and delayed raises on levies for red diesel and business gas consumption)

Budget therefore missed opportunities on measures such as fuel duty, carbon tax, etc. But @TheSun is happy

Context is of course govt's #NetZero target – specifically whether #Budget2020 puts the UK on course, or at least starts to. Plus #COP26 because, as many have said, the UK can't use climate leadership as a calling-card there unless it's demonstrably on course to its own target

In heat - a really big area - it's 'as you were while we work out a better option'. RHI will continue for another year, which is fair because it does need a big re-boot. On transport, a modest increase in EV grant ambition and on charging. So far, so largely dull

A big step is carbon capture and storage. £800 million to support development of one cluster by 'middle of the decade' and a second by 2030. Exactly in line with @theCCCuk #netzero official advice

Crucial though is £800m won't begin to pay for all of it, and money alone doesn't answer the questions

Needs a power station with (presumably) a Contract for Difference, ownership settled on pipes (presumably public sector), geological survey of CO2 storage sites, liability & insurance regime, long-term financial incentive for factories to send in their CO2...

But equally those questions won't be answered until there's a firm project that government backs. It's a winner on northern jobs and levelling-up. Much more to be done but a big tick so far. And a personal triumph for @SimonClarkeMP who's been advocating Teeside for years

On tree-planting... hmm. Manifesto pledged £640 million, and 30,000 hectares being planted per year by the end of this Parliament (about what @theCCCuk says is needed). But it didn't say the one would pay for the other... which is fortunate, because it can't

Budget confirms £640 million. But this buys about 30,000 hectares in total, over 5 years. This money just for England - the national regions together will get about 1/5 of that sum under Barnett formula yet will have to do at least as much as England to meet the manifesto pledge

NI, Wales and Scotland govts have their own targets. First two amount to only 6,000 hectares per year but Scotland is currently saying (and doing) 10,000 per year. So 30,000 per year in 2024 is just about feasible

Lack of clarity so far though on issues such as land purchase and tenure, workforce, measures to ensure longevity of forests, etc

Interesting to note in passing that if the #Conservatives' tree-planting manifesto pledge is delivered, the person most responsible for delivering it will be @NicolaSturgeon. On a per-capita basis the average Scot is doing about 17x more lifting than the average English person

Overall – no clangers, but not stellar either. Much more needed in particular on decarbonising home heating and transport

One presumes the delayed National Infrastructure Strategy will do some of the heavy lifting on areas such as energy efficiency. Advancing the ICE phase-out date to 2032 (with its attendant economic benefit for UK plc) is also, presumably, coming

Govt has got itself into first gear but needs to move swiftly up through the box if @BorisJohnson and @AlokSharma_RDG are serious about the UK delivering #NetZero and thus being a quality @COP26President. It'll need to take every opportunity on the road ahead to accelerate

As the fuel duty row shows, it also needs to not kow-tow to the press – which in turn also depends on internalising public opinion. For example, does @RishiSunak know that in 'Red Wall' constituencies, the public's No1 infrastructure priority is warm homes? If not, why not?