Seizing the opportunity
Beyond simply seeking to limit costs, now is also the time to plan ahead.
We’ve got to invest and steer the economy in the right direction to open up a whole new world of opportunity, security and prosperity in the future.
Just look at the way the global market is shifting and the lessons we’ve learned so far.
Our offshore wind industry is now the world’s No. 1, thanks to up-front Government investment in earlier years when they spotted the opportunity. So yes, well done.
But still, despite these huge opportunities, Mr Hammond spends his time creating caveats and loopholes to avoid stepping forward and seizing the moment.
His economic leadership is based on reticence and caution.
Rather than going harder and faster on renewables now to fully reap the rewards of previous investments, he has limited or curtailed further policy and financial support.
Rather than banning new petrol and diesel cars and vans from our roads by 2030, he has decided to miss out on the electric vehicle revolution and go for a decade later. Apparently the examples of many other countries and the advice of parliamentary committees and countless experts doesn’t count for much.
Rather than coming forward with an additional £1 billion of public investment per year to insulate the nation’s homes, the Chancellor has decided it’s better to do nothing. Seemingly, the benefits of reducing fuel bills, creating thousands of new service and construction jobs and boosting innovation in the UK’s green design and architecture sector are not big enough incentives.
Rather than vocally encouraging other countries to legislate for ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 or sooner, Mr Hammond has written in a 5-year review so we could potentially back out if others are cautious.
Many of you in this room know that investments into a zero-carbon economy secure a role for Britain in the 21st Century.
So why are you, the leaders of some of the world’s biggest banks, letting this government get away with selling us short?
Policy decisions must no longer be hampered by the short-sighted logic of ‘decarbonisation at least-cost.’
Having a comparative advantage in the technologies that every country in the world will have to adopt is an economic opportunity, not a hindrance.
Now is the time for a new approach. It must be about ‘maximising every decarbonisation opportunity.’
The UK has been the birthplace of some of the greatest innovations, feats of engineering and cutting edge entrepreneurship in the world.
We are now one of the leading creators and makers of the new technologies that can massively cut our carbon footprint, power our homes, factories and offices, and protect, harness and utilise the land, wind, waters and sun that are abundant on these isles.
Talent, creativity and optimism are needed now more than ever before to avert the very worst impacts of climate breakdown.
The world needs instigators; those who can inspire and pioneer a modern revolution that changes the way the world works.
Will you, the guests at this banquet, be those instigators? Will you the hosts of this banquet take on the role that history demands?
So Mr Estlin, Lord Mayor of the City of London and senior advisor to Barclays, will you quit financing fossil fuels, both extraction and power?
HSBC, Mr Stuart and others, will you rinse your client list of both fossil fuels and rainforest destruction?
All of you, the guests at this banquet: will you demand leadership and greater investment from our Government to steer us in the right direction and make the most of this opportunity?
This is a climate emergency.
Business as usual is no longer an option.
It’s time to be less defensive and more strategic. It’s time to seize the moment.
We need you all to intervene.
Practical action
Climate scientists have spoken with one voice.
We must listen.
And we must act.
The majority of the British public think we are in a climate emergency. There is a high level of support for government interventions to reduce emissions, including new climate taxes.
So what does this mean in practice?
We need to bring our electricity, transport and heating systems into the 21st century.
There can be no excuse for opening up more fossil fuel reserves – keep it in the ground, everywhere, now, and phase-down existing production.
Mistakes made during the dismantling of the UK’s coal mining industry must not be repeated. Reskilling workers and supporting their transition from older, more polluting industries to the new green economy should be prioritised.
80% of our electricity should be from renewables by 2030 – a tripling of wind and solar from current levels. Communities must be supported to reap the rewards through creating thousands of new, decent, secure jobs for workers in clean industries.
We need to climate proof our homes, factories and offices, making them warm in winter and cool in the summer, which will cut carbon and eventually cut our bills.
We all must recognise that the car is no longer king – we must clamp down on new road building and fundamentally reallocate existing road space away from cars, towards public transport, walking and cycling.
We need to protect, nurture and enhance our land and oceans so they can absorb greenhouse gases and allow a wide range of plants and animals to thrive.
We need to maintain healthy and sustainable food production, resilient in the face of a changing climate.
And we must seriously clamp down on flying, whose emissions are currently not properly accounted for. A Frequent Flier Levy would provide one tax-free return flight a year per person and then progressively increase tax on each flight beyond that. All new runways should also be banned, including at Heathrow.
The new industrial revolution could have no better home than here, where the old one took root. But this must not be entrusted to the whims of an unregulated market.
It needs to be done fairly and to be steered by a visionary and responsible Government, supported with significant investment.
At a minimum, public spending should be 2% of GDP per year to tackle the climate and environmental emergency fairly and democratically.
The people in this room – the Treasury, the Bank of England and some of the world’s biggest banks – hold the keys to our collective future.
Mr Hammond, will you and your staff continue to parrot excuses about relying on the market economy to protect us, thereby using the power of our nation’s Treasury to block the radical climate action we need to survive?
We can only do this if you organise our economy to make a radical and just transition as fast as possible.
Every bank executive in this room could start tomorrow to clean your client lists of dirty fossil fuel companies. Set a date. Make a pathway to zero carbon. Tell the world the direction of travel you’re setting: to climate safety.
Look at this banquet.
Look at each other.
You are dining out while the planet burns. So are you going to act?
This is a climate emergency.
We have to change something.
Business as usual is no longer an option.
It’s time to step forward. We need you all to intervene.