The heavily delayed Energy White Paper will be published in autumn, minister Kwasi Kwarteng confirmed last week.
In response to a question tabled by Liz Saville Roberts – the Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd – on 14 September, the minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth confirmed that it will be published in the next few months.
In his response on 17 September, Kwarteng wrote: “The energy white paper is a priority and it will be published this autumn.”
This follows the energy secretary Alok Sharma stating it would “hopefully” by published in autumn during a Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee hearing in July.
The Energy White Paper is now over a year late, having originally been set for publication in the summer of 2019.
In October 2019, then-energy secretary Andrea Leadsom said that it would be delayed until Q1 2020.
In February 2020, junior energy minister Lord Duncan told the House of Lords that the white paper would be published in “a matter of weeks” .
When it never materialised, a BEIS spokesperson told Current± in March that the white paper would be published in spring 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The energy white paper is set to provide essential information about the UK’s pathway to net zero, providing policy certainty that will allow the energy sector to drive forwards the transition.
