The UK government has pulled together stakeholders from across the energy sector to discuss how to ensure the COVID-19 recovery is green.
First announced last week, the energy and business secretary Alok Sharma has now chaired five different roundtables looking into the pandemic recovery, including one focused on net zero held on 10 June.
Those in attendance included Energy UK, the Aldergate Group, the Committee on Climate Change, Octopus Energy, National Grid and more.
The group worked through six key questions, including which areas of infrastructure investment need to be prioritised, how to align investment with net zero, what regulatory barriers there are, and how to more effectively support businesses across the economy to reach net zero.
Additionally, the roundtable discussed how to transition carbon intensive industries for net zero without loosing competitiveness, and how to ensure both local and regional economies contribute.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has said that the outcome of this roundtable, and the others which took place between 10 and 13 June, will feed directly into the governments work on economic recovery.
A green recovery will be key for the UK, to rebuild economic resilience and progress to being net zero by 2050. The need for support schemes to ensure this is possible has been echoed throughout the energy sector, with charities, businesses and industry bodies all calling on the government to prioritise a green recovery process.
Further discussion on the measures needed for economic recovery will take place over the next 18 months, according to BEIS.
The full list of participants in the roundtable can be found here.