Simon Virley, head of energy & natural resources at KPMG UK, commented:
“Today’s Budget did contain some important measures aimed at decarbonising the economy, including creating a fast-charging network for electric vehicles, removing reliefs for red diesel, and support for the deployment of green gases. However, much work remains to be done ahead of COP26 later this year if the Government is to have a credible, coherent plan on how to reach Net-Zero.
“The Chancellor highlighted in his speech the support being given to the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage as an example of the Government’s green credentials, yet those developing CCS projects will be wondering if there is enough money to go round.
“The Conservative Manifesto promised £800m for ‘the first’ CCS cluster. Today, the Chancellor announced that the same amount of money would be split around ‘two or more’ projects, not one as previously indicated.”