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<p>In his speech of June 30, the Prime Minister made clear that in recovering from
COVID-19, we must build back better, build back greener, build back faster, and to
do that at the pace that this moment requires. Our economy must be greener, more sustainable,
and more resilient.</p><p> </p><p>The UK has shown that growing our economy and cutting
emissions can be achieved at the same time. We have grown our economy by 75% while
cutting emissions by 43% over the past three decades. The UK has over 460,000 jobs
in low carbon businesses and their supply chains and many of the actions we need to
take to reach our target of net zero emissions by 2050 will support jobs and growth
across the UK.</p><p> </p><p>The Government announced an ambitious support package
for our low carbon economy at the Spring budget, including £800m fund for Carbon Capture
and Storage (CCS) and £1bn in support for ultra-low emission vehicles infrastructure.
In his 30 June speech, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced further measures
including up to £100m of new funding to research and develop Direct Air Capture (DAC)
technology; a Green Recovery Challenge Fund of up to £40m to kick start a programme
of nature-based projects to address the twin challenges of halting biodiversity loss
and tackling climate change; and, recommitting to planting 30,000 hectares of trees
every year by 2025.</p><p> </p><p>On July 8, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the
Exchequer delivered an economic update setting out the next stage in our plan to support
the UK’s recovery from the pandemic. The Government announced an additional £3 billion
green investment to create thousands of green jobs and upgrade buildings. This includes
£50m to demonstrate innovative approaches to retrofitting social housing at scale,
to start the decarbonisation of social housing over 20/21; a £2 billion ‘Green Homes
Grant’ to help people improve the efficiency of their homes accelerating progress
towards net zero, while supporting jobs and reducing energy bills; and, £1 billion
investment over the next year in a new Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to upgrade
public sector buildings, including schools and hospitals, making them fit to help
meet net zero with energy efficiency and low carbon heat measures.</p><p> </p><p>We
will continue to build on this even further and deliver a stronger, greener, more
sustainable economy after this pandemic. The Government will continue to set out further
measures as part of its green agenda in the run up to COP26 in November 2021.</p><p>
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