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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · 9d

The conservatives making a pig's breakfast of everything. Exhibit 121. 👇👎

New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · 9d

The Tories' plan to scrap the Climate Change Act would be an act of national self harm, says @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social. Read NEF's full reaction here: neweconomics.org/2025/10/scie...

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · 11d

Looking forward to celebrating this moment! Small bit significant win of it happens

Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 11d

The National Energy System Operator has a separate target to run the GB grid without fossil fuels for at least 30 minutes, before the end of 2025

NESO told CB it was "confident" of hitting "zero-carbon operation", most likely in Q4

We'll be watching closely
5/7

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · 11d

But the rubbishing off of wealth tax and fixation on fiscal rules will only impede his project of national renewal. This will have to change or decline and stagnation will force him to change.

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · 11d

As speeches go, that was pretty good from Starmer. Low on policy detail and high on story telling and taking it to Reform, which was absolutely the right tenor for the moment he and the govt. finds themselves in.

Enough to stave off any internal rebellion till the May election!

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Reposted by Chaitanya Kumar

New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · Aug 1

“The numbers should be taken with a pinch of salt.”

NEF’s @alchap.bsky.social on Heathrow for ITV.

“Similar figures were promoted last time round and were later discredited by the government’s own advisers.”

🔗 itv.com/news/2025-07-31/heathrow-reveals-plan-for-third-runway-but-will-it-take-off

itv.com

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jul 25

David Mencer has to be the most insufferable human being on the planet!

Reposted by Chaitanya Kumar

New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · Jul 17

We found that Reform's plans to attack renewable energy industries could wipe £92bn off the UK economy and destroy 60,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

These plans would damage our economic health and the health of our climate. 1/2

Image of Nigel Farage in Parliament. Text overlayed reads: Reform's anti-renewables policies could wipe £92bn off the economy

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Reposted by Chaitanya Kumar

New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · Jun 26

Who is benefitting from this government's airport expansion drive? ✈️

Meet... the ultra-frequent flyer. @alchap.bsky.social breaks down everything you need to know about this group, and how the are taking more than their fair share of flights. 1/2

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 23

All this is welcome stuff but big q as always is, will it survive elections, price shocks and Treasury fiscal orthodoxy? Its hard to say.

But for now, it’s a blueprint worth taking seriously. More detailed deep dive once I've actually read the full pack.
@neweconomics.bsky.social

Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 23

Alongside this, a new Clean Energy Workforce Strategy is due this summer. Some addnl funding (£100m+ for technical skills); new technical excellence colleges, an “Energy Skills Passport” for oil & gas workers to move into clean jobs and Union involvement explicitly supported.

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 23

But who pays for this? The govt plan is to use rising revenues from the UK Emissions Trading Scheme.
As carbon prices rise, ETS income rises—and that pays for lower bills.

ETS carbon prices are indeed projected to rise⬆️, from ~£45 today to ~£100+ by 2030–35. But we also know these are v volatile!

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 23

The headline change? From 2027, the govt will:

Remove policy levies like RO/CM (£35–40/MWh)
Offer network charge relief (~£14/MWh)
Maintain Climate Change Levy discounts

This will cut industrial electricity prices but all else being equal, they will still remain high compared to EU median.

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 23

The idea of not picking winners was always myopic. The strategy targets key sectors like
⚡ Offshore wind
⚛️ Nuclear
🔥 Heat pumps
💨 Hydrogen
🛢️ Carbon capture
🌐 Grid infrastructure

These 'frontier sectors' get targeted investment, planning reform, and support.

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 23

Some useful diagnosis that sets the context:
❌ Past policy was too short-term
❌ Market signals alone didn’t build resilient supply chains
❌ UK industry has been hamstrung by high energy costs

The latter has captured all the headlines and rightly so as elec prices are highest in UK for industry.

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 23

There's a lot to dig into the government's new industrial strategy policy paper. But a few quick thoughts on the 'clean energy sector plan' published today. 👇 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685878...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 18

You've heard of frequent flyers, but we've got some new research for you on the idea of ultra- frequent flyers.

Exciting work from my colleague @alchap.bsky.social where he makes a compelling case as to why this new class of flyers is not paying it's fair share of tax and how we can fix it. 👇👇

New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · Jun 18

This government wants to expand airports up and down the country. But who will this really benefit? Ultra-frequent flyers.

@alchap.bsky.social spoke at today's Environmental Audit Committee.

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Reposted by Chaitanya Kumar

Auke Hoekstra @aukehoekstra.bsky.social · Jun 17

The official report on the blackout in Spain and Portugal was just released. I'll give a quick summary of findings and provide some additional info.

TL;DR
conventional power plants didn't control the voltage as planned
over-voltage caused renewables to turn off as required

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Reposted by Chaitanya Kumar

Paul Krugman @pkrugman.bsky.social · Jun 12

Folks, CBO estimate of the distributional effect of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is out: www.cbo.gov/system/files...

It's grotesque

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 12

This is an unfortunate headline. There's no 'raiding' of the GBE budget for nuclear. The disappointment is its official classification as an investment vehicle and not a generator that builds, operates and fully owns energy assets. That was the original vision!
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

GB Energy’s promised £8.3bn budget raided to pay for small nuclear reactors

National energy company effectively loses £2.5bn to separate body tasked with spearheading nuclear renaissance

www.theguardian.com

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 11

not surprised, just didn't seem clear from the very beginning. now it is.

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 11

cc @cmmonwealth.bsky.social @james-bg.bsky.social , @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org ,

Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Jun 11

Looks like GB energy is a public finance institution after all! Oh well, that is disappointing. The vision was to have a publicly owned generator of mature tech, now it will offer loans and buy equity. The OG vision deferred to the 2030s or beyond.

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Reposted by Chaitanya Kumar

New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · May 30

NEW: Our latest analysis reveals that Reform's anti-environmental policies could cost the country £92bn in lost revenue and wipe out more than 60,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

Text: Reform's anti-renewables policies could wipe £92bn off the economy

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Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social · Apr 30

This is what you get when technocrats wade into a knife fight with a spreadsheet (a weak one in this case).

They think they’re depoliticising the climate debate, but all they’re really doing is laundering right-wing talking points in the language of reason.

Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · Apr 30

"We need to depoliticise the climate debate" says that Tony Blair report ...

.... the main impact of which has been to deepen the right wing culture war against net zero by describing the climate debate as "hysteria"

#climatecrisis
institute.global/insights/cli...

The Climate Paradox: Why We Need to Reset Action on Climate Change

institute.global

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Reposted by Chaitanya Kumar

New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · Apr 29

Britain has a history of engineering innovation and investment - let's apply the same spirit to meet the challenge of energy security. Read @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social's latest blog to find out how we can do it: neweconomics.org/2025/04/blam...

Blaming the blackout on net zero won’t keep the lights on

The blackout in Spain and Portugal is a reminder of the complexities involved in modernising our energy systems. Rather than retreating from net zero we need to rise to the challenge.

neweconomics.org

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