‘Sustainability superpower’: Report predicts UK could unlock £70bn annual windfall by going ‘beyond net zero’

New reports from UKBCSD and National Grid detail how accelerated clean tech transition to drive massive long term economic benefits for the UK

Accelerating efforts to move “beyond net zero” could deliver economic benefits to the tune of £70bn a year by md-century and cement the UK’s position as a world leader in fast-growing clean techn markets.

That is the headline conclusion contained in a new study from the UK Business Council for Sustainable Development (UKBCSD), which argued that establishing the UK as a “sustainability superpower” would create 279,000 jobs in clean energy industries and trigger a once-in-a-generation economic opportunity on par with the discovery of oil and gas reserves in the North Sea.

It also states that Britain’s potential to generate excess amounts of clean energy could turn it from a net importer of energy into a country capable of exporting £17bn of clean power each year to mainland Europe.

“Today, more than 90 per cent of global GDP is covered by some form of net zero target,” said Jason Longhurst, chair of the UKBCSD. “We commissioned this report to find out more about the opportunities which net zero can bring to Britain.

“We believe this paper delivers an evidence base to enable our government to drive new incentives to transition, leverage in further private sector investment, and position the UK as one of the world’s most investable markets for companies tackling the challenges created by climate change.”

The report explored the economic implications of two competing scenarios facing the UK whereby it either ramps up net zero policies or persists with currently underpowered decarbonisation policies.

It argues that under the so-called ‘beyond net zero’ scenario, the UK would become a world leader in the clean energy transition, attract billions of pounds of global private investment, and establish itself as a clean energy superpower.

Such an approach would result in economic benefits of £70.3bn a year by 2050 – not including the social value of reduced greenhouse gas emissions and averted climate change – as well as an additional £36.4bn of Gross Valued Added (GVA) delivered by clean energy generation. Moreover, the report calculates that disposable incomes would enjoy a £14.7bn boost by 2050 as a result of lower energy prices.

The study argued the economic benefits of this scenario would be more than double the £35bn of benefits that would be unlocked by the alternative ‘near net zero’ scenario, whereby the UK lapses into “clean energy mediocrity and stumbles along” wit decarbonisation policies that are not sufficient to meet current climate goals.

The report acknowledges that delivering on the ‘beyond net zero’ scenario would require significant investment in a power grid that is “fit for purpose”, a “massive” increase in energy storage capacity, the delivery of a national building retrofit programme, and early intervention to catalyse the market for hydrogen.

As such, it reiterates recent calls for a raft of new decarbonisation policies, including interest-free ‘retrofit loans’, a five-fold increase in rooftop solar installations by 2035. and ‘priority grid connection auctions’, among other measures.

The report also echoes a raft of recent warnings from business leaders that the UK risks squandering its leadership position in the global clean energy transition without a renewed effort to boost investment in low carbon infrastructure.

Learn more: Business Green