Ed Miliband stakes his claim for accelerating the clean energy transition – A greener life, a greener world

By Anders Lorenzen

The UK’s Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), Ed Miliband, used a speech at the UK’s trade association for the energy sector, Energy UK Annual Conference, to make a compelling case for scaling up the clean energy transition.

The head of DESNZ explained that fossil fuels today hold back rather than advancing the UK: “Fossil fuels cannot provide us with the energy security and affordability it once could, to ensure energy security we must build our energy independence based on clean energy”, he stated.

Fossil fuels hold back the UK

He underlined that the skyrocketing cost of energy prices experienced in the UK as well as around the world has been shaped by global events primarily the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as other events, this exemplifies, the volatility of electricity costs in an energy system dominated by fossil fuels, “As long as we are reliant on fossil fuels we will be under grip of voluntary energy prices and it makes us very vulnerable as a country”,  the Secretary of State said.

Miliband who previously served as Energy Secretary in the previous Labour government and led the party in the early years of opposition to the Conservative government, set out a passionate case for all the societal benefits that come with scaling up clean energy, a catalyst for strengthening the economy, affordability and dealing with the cost of living crisis, security concerns, and creating a whole raft of new green jobs and industries and deliver the much needed investments to neglected former industrial heartlands, “The imperative for a rapid shift to clean energy has never been greater in terms security, the economy and combatting climate change”, he underlined. 

We will not dither

He was keen to outline how far clean energy has come since he was last in government, “Renewables are the cheapest form of new energy infrastructure, a statement I could not have made in 2008”, he enthusiastically said. 

The Secretary of State had a dig at the previous government accusing them of dithering and not getting on with taking critical decisions. He wanted to make a clear distinction between the previous and the current government, “This is a government in a hurry to deliver for Britain, we won’t always get it right, but we will not dither on decisions,” he stated. He said there was no time to waste, stating that every wind turbine or solar farm ejected or blocked, results in delays to the energy transition, pledging: “This government will take on the blockers.” 

Acknowledging that the consequences of climate impacts are greater than ever before, Miliband did not hold back on his optimism going forward: “There are huge opportunities for growing the clean energy sector in terms of the economy, bringing down energy prices”, he said, adding the huge potentials of creating a vast array of green jobs that can propel the UK forward as a clean energy leader.

Miliband concluded his address to UK energy industry professionals with a passion for his work, “Clean energy is directly linked to an opportunistic future for the future generation. I’m in politics because I care about the change we can bring.”