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Net zero electricity: the UK 2035 target

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  • Dieter Helm

Abstract

The UK is, like its peers in the EU, just under 80% dependent on fossil fuels. This figure has come down just over 10% since the 1970s, a period when the UK had major energy-intensive industries, most of which are now gone. The government is committed to achieving net zero for the electricity sector by 2035 on the pathway to net zero for the whole economy by 2050.. The Labour opposition has set 2030 as its electricity target. Setting out the scale of this challenge, this paper demonstrates how implausible the 2035 target is. On present policies there is little prospect that the 2035 target will be met (and virtually none for the Labour 2030 target). This paper reviews the multiple current policies and the capacity objectives and explores what would have to happen to meet the target. It sets out some of the consequences of failure to deliver, and the expectation of that failure.

Suggested Citation

  • Dieter Helm, 2023. "Net zero electricity: the UK 2035 target," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 39(4), pages 779-795.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:39:y:2023:i:4:p:779-795.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oxrep/grad037
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fetzer, Thiemo & Gazze, Ludovica & Bishop, Meena, 2022. "How large is the energy savings potential in the UK?," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1437, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    2. Helm, Dieter, 2003. "Energy, the State, and the Market: British Energy Policy since 1979," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199262038.
    3. Leslie Hannah, 1979. "Electricity before Nationalisation," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-03443-7, October.
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