For those conscious of the growing climate crisis and the perilous economic situation, the path out of the coronavirus recession looks like a tightrope. On one side, the urgent need to revive the economy and head off unemployment. On the other, the demand that post-COVID growth is green and sustainable. The UK’s recently announced national infrastructure strategy is part of the government’s vision for managing that balancing act.
The government has set out plans to renew the UK’s “creaking national anatomy” with “hundreds of billions of pounds” of private and public investment in transport, the energy sector and telecommunications. But with the newly announced target to cut carbon emissions by at least 68% of what they were in 1990 by the end of 2030, decarbonisation measures must be much more aggressive.
