The new UK government has disbanded the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The new Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will now be responsible for policies regarding renewable energies.
Greg Clark has been appointed as new Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. “I am thrilled to have been appointed to lead this new department charged with delivering a comprehensive industrial strategy, leading government’s relationship with business, furthering our world-class science base, delivering affordable, clean energy and tackling climate change,” he stated. The renewable energy sector especially took note of the fact that “climate change” is no longer present in the name of the new department which Clark is to lead now.
Several Questions have been raised due to this omission, such as “Who will be formally held responsible for reducing the UK’s carbon emissions by 80% as compared to 1990?” Overall, it is still unclear how much the new government of the conservative Prime Minister Theresa May will focus on preventing climate change.
When it comes to the Secretary of State himself, Clark has apparently been known to block the development of solar parks on the one hand, but on the other hand he emphasised the importance of energy efficiency and a low-carbon economy, when he was shadow secretary for energy and climate change between 2008 and 2010.
It seems the future of the UK’s renewable energy policy is as uncertain as the reverberations of Brexit itself.