Prime Minister Keir Starmer is establishing a publicly owned body called Great British Energy to spearhead funding in domestic renewable energy projects as the UK weans itself off fossil fuels.
“There is a massive prize within our reach, and make no mistake the race is on to get there,” Starmer said of his pledge to ensure Britain’s energy “independence”.
His government has allocated £8.3 billion ($10 billion) of public money over the next five years as Labour aims to meet Britain’s climate change targets.
The company is the bedrock of Labour’s pledge made before its landslide general election victory against the Conservatives on July 4 to make Britain a “clean energy superpower”.
Labour, in power for the first time since 2010, is committed to meeting the UK’s legal obligation of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
It also wants to decarbonize Britain’s electricity grid by 2030, although experts have said the ambitious target will be difficult to meet.
Starmer’s government has already ended a ban on new onshore wind farms in England that the Conservatives imposed in 2015.