Britain’s Sunak oil subsidy could insulate 2 million homes, according to the think tank.
Damian Carrington
Billions of pounds given away in UK oil and gas tax credits could permanently cut the electricity bills of 2 million homes by £342 a year if invested in lockdown measures, according to green analytics center.
Last week, Rishi Sunak announced a 91% tax break along with a contingency tax on oil and gas companies’ huge profits. Think tank E3G has calculated that tax breaks will return between £2.5bn and £5.7bn to oil companies over three years, while a £3bn energy efficiency program retrofits 2.1m homes over the same period, make them less dependent on gas. .
Rising global gas prices are expected to more than double annual electricity bills by October, pushing a third of households into fuel poverty. Proponents of energy efficiency, including attic and wall insulation, say it’s a win-win investment that cuts bills forever, cuts climate crisis-causing carbon emissions, and boosts jobs. Green groups said the chancellor’s subsidies to households, funded in part by a contingency tax, were just a “sticky plaster”.
Another report released on Tuesday by the Tony Blair Global Change Institute (TBI) said £4bn of annual investment in energy efficiency could permanently halve household heating bills by 2035. Its author said that Sunak handed out “cloaks” but “couldn’t fix the roof”.
The tax cut is in line with official definitions of fossil fuel subsidies, which the UK and other countries have committed to phasing out. This is spurring new oil and gas production, despite a recent Guardian investigation revealing the fossil fuel industry is already planning projects that would undermine the world’s chances of maintaining a habitable climate.
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The aviation sector doesn’t want to “prepare” for thousands of people arriving because of rising costs, according to an Airline Management Group chief executive.
Asked what the industry can do to meet the demand, Peter Davies told LBC:
Well, they need to get the staff ready as quickly as possible, especially through airports with security.
However, according to him, they do not want to increase the staff.
When thousands of people arrive at Heathrow at 7:00 in the morning, and this has been the case for many years, when many people arrive on night flights, then you should prepare to make sure you can handle these people.
But of course it costs money and requires space, and people are often reluctant to do so.
arts minister Stephen Parkinson said “the industry had to recruit people ready” for the increased demand for travel.
Asked if the government could have done more to help the aviation sector during the pandemic, Lord Parkinson told Sky News the government had helped but put the blame entirely on the tourism sector, which hadn’t recruited enough people to…
