On arrival at No 10 Downing Street, the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to ‘clear up the mistakes’ that his short-lived predecessor Liz Truss had invoked only a few weeks ago.

Sunak brought back familiar faces to the UK Cabinet, including Grant Shapps as Business and Energy Secretary, heading up the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), after less than a week as Home Secretary in Truss’ ill-fated administration. He replaces Jacob Rees-Mogg who was considered to be a climate change cynic. Shapps previously served as Transport Secretary in Boris Johnson’s government.

Top of Shapps’ new priorities is likely to be deciding which UK households and businesses will get help with their energy bills in April 2023, when universal support under the Energy Price Guarantee ends. He will also have to decide whether to proceed with a ‘revenue cap’ or the recently announced windfall tax on green power plant owners, which has sparked a major backlash from companies who warn that it could jeopardise investment towards the UK net zero target, which Shapps supports.

In other appointments, COP26 President Alok-Shama was re-appointed to represent the UK at the COP27 Climate Change Conference from 6–18 November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Therese Coffey was named Environment Secretary, and Mark Harper has become Transport Secretary.

Fracking banned again 
In his first move as Prime Minister, Sunak announced that he would re-impose the previous moratorium on fracking in England in line with the Conservative manifesto commitment in 2019. This came as a welcome initiative given how Liz Truss had divided MPs with plans to allow the extraction of shale gas where it had support of the local community.

The decision was applauded by environmental groups who described it as ‘a victory for common sense’ to keep the ban on fracking in place. However, supporters of fracking argued that it would make the UK more dependent on gas imports.

Fracking was halted in England in November 2019, on safety grounds when a test well in Lancashire caused earth tremors that were stronger than anticipated. In April 2022, the then Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng commissioned the British Geological Survey to review whether scientific breakthroughs meant that geology outside Lancashire might be more conducive to fracking without tremors. The review was also to assess whether tremors permitted in other industries, such as construction, meant fracking could also be justified. A report was handed to the government in June but has yet to be published.

Fracking played a significant role in Truss’ downfall after the Labour party forced a vote on the topic in the Commons. There were chaotic scenes of disarray among Tory party members threatened with losing the whip if they did not back the lifting of the moratorium on fracking. The Tory party won the vote with a comfortable majority.

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP, welcomed Sunak’s subsequent reinstatement of the moratorium on fracking, while Danny Gross of Friends of the Earth commented: ‘This is a fantastic victory for common sense and the environment’. He added: ‘The government must now focus on real solutions to the energy crisis, including a street-to-street home insulation programme and developing the UK’s huge potential of onshore wind and solar energy production.’

Energy price cap concerns 
Meanwhile, renewable energy suppliers are concerned that the new Energy Prices Bill that recently passed into law, will give Business and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps the power to cap what he calls their ‘extraordinary income’ as energy prices have risen spectacularly since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mark Sait, CEO and Founder of SaveMoneyCutCarbon, commented that: ‘While the Energy Prices Bill provides crucial support to business and household energy bills, it also has the power to over-ride the energy regulator [Ofgem] and place a firm cap on the incomes of energy providers. This could deter overseas investors from placing their assets into the UK’s renewable energy sector and could force them to close. Further to this, the stable regulatory environment for energy suppliers has been key to driving investment into Britain’s wind power industry, which is crucial to the country’s climate goals.’