Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2021 to Questions 92862 and 92863, if he will publish the evidential basis and calculations for the amount of public and private investment required to keep the UK on track to (a) meet its carbon budgets and Nationally Determined Contribution and (b) reach net zero by 2050.

In order to keep the UK on track to meet its climate ambitions, analysis from the Net Zero Strategy estimates that additional capital investment must grow from present levels to an average of £50-60 billion per year through the late 2020s and 2030s. Most of this investment will come from the private sector, providing new opportunities for businesses and investors, and helping to reduce the UK’s exposure to international fossil fuel markets. A breakdown of estimated additional capital investment needed to meet each carbon budget is found in Table 11 of the technical annex published as part of the Net Zero Strategy (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-strategy), including key sources of evidence for that assessment.

This complements work for HM Treasury’s Net Zero Review, which provided a cross-economy analysis of the investment needs of reaching net zero in 2050 and the evidential bases for the conclusions drawn (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-review-final-report).