Energising Britain – what is it and why does it matter?

Last week saw the publication of the Government’s climate and nature public participation plan, titled Energising Britain: Your voice in our Clean Energy Superpower Mission. It sets out how the government plan to engage with people and communities in decision-making as we move towards a cleaner energy system. Our Head of Policy, and Programme Lead on Everyone’s Environment: National & Leaders breaks down what it is and why it matters.

The Clean Energy Superpower Mission aims to have the UK using 95% clean energy by 2030. It has been one of the strongest of Labour’s five missions, outlasting the others and establishing its own dedicated structures. Under Chris Stark’s leadership, the ‘Mission Control’ became a reality, something that never got off the ground for any of the other missions.

This mission spans lots of important areas of people’s lives: jobs, energy bills, housing, and climate impacts. It’s essential that the voices of people and communities are at the heart of these decisions. This plan sets out how the public will be involved in the Clean Power Mission, and the role of public participation in policy design and implementation as the UK transitions to a cleaner economy.

The plan includes a few specific policies, but much more important are the goals and principles it sets out.  Some of them could have been lifted from our policy position, Making environmental policy work for everyone. In particular, the three goals of: making sure that people have the facts and information to understand the change needed and benefits of taking action, ensuring that policies are responsive to the needs of people and communities, and providing people with the information they need to access and benefit from the positive changes created by the transition. We are pleased that the work of Everyone’s Environment and others, alongside the Department, has seen these goals put at the centre of this strategy.

As positive as the goals and principles are, how they are implemented is the most important thing.

At a time of political uncertainty, with public voices questioning the sense of climate action, what matters is how these changes look and feel for people. If people feel like this is another wave of “stuff governments do to them”, then public support will continue to waver.

What is in the plan?

To meet the three goals mentioned above, the plan has five principles for how the Government will work with people, communities, organisations, businesses, and trade unions.  What truly matters is how these ambitions manifest in the often opaque, hard-to-navigate processes that ultimately shape the policies affecting our daily lives.

Communicate

This is about how the government will tell people about the actions that are being taken, and how it is improving people’s lives. At a time where people are questioning whether climate action actually will benefit them, this matters. The plan talks about some government publications, but goes further in talking about accessible, online information, which we know is essential.

But for some communities, this won’t be enough. Government will need to work in partnership with trusted voices in communities. The messages need to reach people in the places they are, from people they trust.

Listen

It’s brilliant to see a government department so openly committing to ensuring that the voices of people and communities shape what they do, and understanding that local expertise is essential in designing solutions that work for communities.

Bringing people together to celebrate the impact of community-led climate and nature action is important. Showing communities that they aren’t alone, and giving them the chance to learn from each other, could have a huge impact. The plan itself includes some inspiring examples of local action.

This is about supporting more people to access the benefits of the transition to clean energy. The focus on building capacity within government is important – climate and environmental policy goes far beyond DESNZ and Defra. It’s in how our homes are built, how we travel, how the things we use are produced. Embedding public engagement on these issues across government  will ensure that citizens are informed, involved, and able to participate in shaping these changes, making the transition fairer, more effective, and widely supported.

Grow

This principle is key. Growing the number of people who have access to low carbon options is central to Everyone’s Environment. It’s often the case that more sustainable options are more expensive, or have high upfront costs. Think EVs, heat pumps, and home insultation. Subsidies on these still only benefit those with the cash to pay the rest of the cost.

Levelling the playing field will mean that sustainable choices, that are also choices that materially improve people’s lives, will be open to more people. If we are worried about losing the climate consensus, this is really important.

Collaborate

As mentioned under the Communicate principle, government can’t do all of this alone. It’s great to see this acknowledged, and a commitment to work with others to insipre action, and make sure that people understand and can access the benefits of the transition.

The impacts of the climate and nature crises are felt differently by different communities, so the diversity of this Panel will be important so that it can represent these different concerns.

Why does it matter?

Trust in government and politics is low at the moment. People feel powerless to shape change, and a lack of autonomy in their lives. At the same time, we are seeing growing scepticism about climate action.  The kinds of participation that the plan sets out could go some way to changing this. There are some brilliant examples of how to do this well in this report from our friends at Climate Outreach.

Giving people an authentic, tangible way to shape decisions that affect their lives, and clearly showing how the more sustainable choice is better, is a huge opportunity. It can rebuild trust in decision makers, and support for the decisions that will benefit people and planet.

For almost everyone, the climate isn’t the number one concern. This is especially true if you are worrying about how you will afford to heat your home and pay your rent, or about how you will get to an essential medical appointment. We need to be framing the changes that are needed to achieve net zero in terms of how they will impact people’s lives. Warmer homes, better public transport, more green space, new green jobs.

Beyond just the framing, we need decisions that work for the people and communities who haven’t felt the benefits so far. The additional £1.5bn, announced in the Budget, to tackle fuel poverty through the Warm Homes Plan is a good example of this. Opening up the policymaking process to more diverse voices will mean that we have policies that tackle both social and environmental challenges. This isn’t about co-benefits, it’s about transformative social and environmental change, that improves the lives of people throughout the country.

Photo by Federico Beccari on Unsplash