The Government is to launch a new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has today announced.
This new department will be led by Grant Shapps who will become the first Secretary of State for the new Department for Energy Security & Net Zero.
It is one of four new departments announced by Sunak today, along with; the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Department for Business and Trade and a re-focused Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
“A new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, has been tasked with securing our long-term energy supply, bringing down bills and halving inflation,” said Sunak.
“The move recognises the significant impact rising prices have had on households across the country as a result of Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine, and the need to secure more energy from domestic nuclear and renewable sources as we seize the opportunities of net zero.”
The creation of the new department splits energy away from business, with it previously sitting within the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which itself was established in 2016 following a reshuffle by the Prime Minister Teresa May.
It took over from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which had been created in 2008.
Shapps has taken the top role in the new department following a brief stint as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which he took on from 25 October 2022.