Badenoch Calls for Green Investment to ‘Future-Proof’ UK Economy

Trade secretary Kemi Badenoch in an undated file photo. UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA

Trade secretary Kemi Badenoch, who has previously criticised net-zero policies, called investment in green energy “the future-proofing force that will help us create a better tomorrow” at a government eco trade and investment expo.

“Now is the time to future-proof our economy by investing in cutting-edge green technology, protecting our long-term energy security and creating thousands of jobs in industries of the future,” said Badenoch at the Green Trade and Investment Expo in Gateshead, northern England, on Tuesday.

Badenoch has previously flirted with abandoning net-zero targets, likening them to “unilateral economic disarmament.”

“Too many policies like net-zero targets set up with no thought to the effects on industries in the poorer parts of this country. And the consequence is simply to displace the emissions of other countries. Unilateral economic disarmament,” she wrote in a piece for The Spectator during her run to become the Conservative Party leader and prime minister in July.

She later softened her stance.

Wind turbines are silhouetted against the sun at Black Law wind farm, in Black Law, Scotland, on Jan. 29, 2010. Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images

‘Growing Our Green Industries Is Crucial to Reaching Net Zero’

Hosted by the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the expo brings together UK businesses and global investors to capitalise “on the commercial opportunities stemming from the UK’s journey to net zero.”

“First, we know that growing our green industries is crucial to reaching net zero. Some people raise awareness of climate change by throwing soup at paintings in museums or gluing themselves to the road. That’s not really my style,” Badenoch said in her speech.

“We in this room know that we can only tackle climate change by using free trade and investment to accelerate green technological progress. And we must do this in a way that does not impoverish the UK,” she said.

She added that it’s a “long-term investment in nuclear and renewables that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and keep down consumer costs.”

The DIT said that the UK had in two years secured almost £20 billion ($23 billion) in “green inward investment,” creating more than 11,000 new jobs. It added that £100 billion ($115 billion) of private sector investment is expected to support nearly 500,000 new jobs by 2030.

John Constable, director of energy at Net Zero Watch, challenged the idea of mass green job creation.

Net Zero Watch, which was founded by the former Chancellor Lord Nigel Lawson, scrutinises climate and decarbonisation policies.

“There is a small number of high-quality jobs in the fossil fuel industry, but the low-cost energy from fossil fuel jobs creates thousands and thousands of high-quality jobs outside of the energy sector,” Constable told The Epoch Times.

‘Low-Quality Jobs’

“What low-quality fuels like renewables do, like wind and solar, is that they create low-quality jobs in the energy sector. There may be quite a lot of those, not necessarily in the UK, they will be in low-cost manufacturing countries in Asia,” said Constable.

He said that this “destroys jobs outside the energy sector, so the net effect on employment is negative.”

“Creating thousands of jobs in the wind industry is not a good thing because it destroys more jobs outside the wind industry because of the high costs,” he added.

Constable said that Badenoch “speaks sense” when she is outside of government, citing previous net zero criticisms.

But he added that MPs seem to be “powerless to resist the civil service line on this,” which he characterised as “completely wedded to the decarbonisation agenda through renewables.”

He said that it will require “a physical crisis in the UK economy” and “some very exceptional people in politics” to change the situation.