The government’s National Wealth Fund will invest £65 million in Connected Kerb to back EV charging provision across the UK.
Economic growth is the number one mission of this government, “without which we cannot meet climate goals”, Rachel Reeves said in a speech delivered this morning.
The chancellor of the exchequer set out her vision for the UK’s economic growth, calling net zero the “industrial opportunity of the 21st Century”.
Reeves touched on her Autumn Budget, arguing that retaining the freeze on fuel duty was a way to protect working people (although this was not well-received by the EV industry at the time).
Moving onto the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which the government is set to publish in spring, Reeves said she is “genuinely shocked” by how slowly the UK planning system moves.
Evidencing this point, she referenced the the 500MW solar-plus-storage Sunnica Energy Farm, one of three solar national significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) that energy secretary Ed Miliband approved in July 2024, despite the government having been aware of the proposals (for Sunnica) since 2021.
Efforts to accelerate the planning system have seen the government implement a rule change to stop “cynical” legal challenges getting in the way of its Plan for Change. This followed prime minister Keir Starmer’s pledge to streamline the approval process of 150 major infrastructure projects as a reiteration of the government’s commitment to clean power.
National Wealth Fund to invest in Connected Kerb
The headline announcement was that the government’s National Wealth Fund (NWF) will invest £65 million in EV charging platform Connected Kerb and £28 million equity investment into Cornish Metals, which will look to mine critical minerals which are used to produce solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles.
The investment in Connected Kerb will see a £55 million ordinary equity investment from the NWF, alongside a further £10 million ordinary equity investment from Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc., which in 2021 committed £110 million to back plans to deliver 190,000 on-street EV chargers by 2030.
Connected Kerb CEO Chris Pateman Jones called the investment “game-changing”, adding that it will give individuals and businesses the confidence to make the switch to driving electric.
Reeves said that the NWF was created because the state has a “crucial role to play” in securing the investment necessary to the renewable energy industry’s growth. The investment set for Cornish Metals will help the tin mining company reestablish activites in the South West.
NWF CEO John Flint said of the investment: “Critical minerals are not only an important driver of the UK’s transition to net zero, but also of the UK’s growth mission, providing opportunities to anchor important supply chains in the UK.”
Heathrow expansion controversy
Reeves also announced what Siân Berry, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, called “the most irresponsible announcement from any government since the Liz Truss budget”, an expansion of London’s Heathrow Airport.
The chancellor said a third runway was “badly needed” and could create up to 100,000 jobs.
Colin Walker, head of transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), asked: “With the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries warning that half of global GDP could be wiped out by climate change in a matter of decades, is ramping up the aviation sector’s CO2 emissions by expanding the country’s largest airport really a plan for long-term growth?”