Describing himself today as ‘politically homeless’, Skidmore resigned last year as a Conservative MP and party member over the Sunak government’s retreat from green initiatives, including delaying tougher requirements on home insulation and extending sales of petrol-driven cars.

Re-affirming his faith as a Conservative in markets, Skidmore told a solar conference in London :

“The future of energy is local. Community energy will create more flexibility for consumers, in bringing cheaper, cleaner electricity, achieving Net Zero, even balancing the grid.  It re-builds communities.  But too few politicians realise its implications”.

While sitting as a Bristol MP, Skidmore was tasked by premier Johnson to conduct an expert review of Britain’s Net Zero policies.  His “Mission Zero” report in January 2023 contained over 120 recommendations, re-affirming the goal’s necessity, and calling for accelerated practical measures to reach the target, in the face of opposition from several fellow Conservatives at Westminster.

Rishi Sunak’s subsequent wavering over Net Zero convinced Skidmore to end his 14 year career at Westminster and his Tory party membership, concentrating instead on work as professor of Net Zero policy at Bath Unversity.

On 27 June with trade body Renewable UK, Skidmore will publish “Net Zero at the Crossroads”, a new assessment seeking to influence the incoming government’s pursuit of energy sustainability and deadlines towards its delivery.  The day is the fifth anniversary of Skidmore while energy minister signing the Johnson government’s Net Zero goals into UK law.

The ex-minister & ex-Conservative told Solar Media’s UK Solar Summit this morning that he remains committed to continuing his cross-party advocacy for green energy, including in community fora such as Oxford County Council’s energy round table.

“My message to practitioners in solar and in community energy is to engage as fully as possible with politicians at every level at this crucial time for clean power”, Skidmore told the conference.

Activists & volunteers working through around 300 energy co-ops in England & Wales are a corrective, Skidmore implied, to what he called Britain’s culture of viewing energy as ‘a commodity imposed from above, top down’.  He called for more community co-ops such as that he had known in Bristol, and endorsed the work of the ‘Right of Local Sale’ campaign, to which over half of all MPs are now signed up.

Recalling attitudes among his former Conservative colleagues at Westminster, Skidmore shared with the conference analysis that, of the 100 constituencies with the most household PV deployed, every one is represented by a Conservative MP.

Skidmore recalled that 49-day premier Liz Truss enthused to him over the benefits of rooftop solar, but opposed PV farms on agricultural land. He reminded delegates that only 3% of UK land would be required to deliver the government’s continuing goal of 70GW of installed PV by 2030.

During his work on the Net Zero review, Skidmore recalled that Craig McKinlay, leader of the Net Zero Review group of sceptical Tory MPs, had expressed frustration that over one million homes installing PV in the past decade would face added expense of having to upgrade rooftop systems in future.

Britain needs to follow the example of more participative energy cultures of our European neighbours, Skidmore argued. Technical changes enabling dispersed low carbon generation, sometimes no longer under the control of corporations, dictated that a culture change was necessary.  Community participants should be guiding politicians, he said.

Interest declared: the author invests in and participates in several local UK energy co-operatives, including in London & the south east.

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At the 2023 British Renewable Energy awards in London on Friday, the REA unusually honoured two recipients, Jackson and Skidmore, for its Judges Award.

The Conservative former environment minister was cited for his work on his Net Zero Review, commissioned by disgraced former premier Johnson.

Octopus’ founder Jackson was cited for the firm’s work in protecting its customers during two years of Britain’s accelerating cost of energy crisis.

For the second year, the REA’s Future Game Changers Award recognised young and innovative research into the sector

Five PhD students presented their research, with around 250 attendees at the Marriott Grosvenor House hotel voting for a winner.

Priyanka Kumar of Imperial College London, won the award for her research into developing a circular economy through utilising waste produced during the brewing of beer. Thanks to award sponsors Glennmont Partners, she will receive £2000 towards further development of her research.

REA chief executive Dr Nina Skorupska CBE commented:

“Despite the industry facing a challenging year, theses awards have shown those who are resilient in the drive towards Net Zero. With the brilliant work showcased, we are truly inspired and energised to keep pushing forward towards a low carbon future.

“We have so much to be proud of as an industry and we congratulate our winners and finalists.”

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The former energy minister was asked by short-lived D-BEIS secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg to review goals and methods by which Britain should meet its legally enforceable target of balancing carbon dioxide emissions and containment by 2050.

In his Mission Zero report out today, Skidmore recommends capitalising on Britain’s world-leading expertise in low carbon tech to secure economic advantage.

“Without the green economy, there is no economy”, Skidmore bluntly states.

With measures sure to dismay vocal NZ foot-draggers in his own party, the Bristol MP advocates nearly 130 new steps to speed up purging CO2 from the nation.  More on-shore wind farms, tougher home insulation standards, and endorsing the government’s ban on gas boilers in new homes after 2025, are all high on Skidmore’s list.

Axing planning laws which obstruct low carbon innovations, and uniting communities & local councils in launching at least one Trailblazer Net Zero City this decade, also feature.

Low carbon businesses and their UK supply chains sustained 400,000 jobs in 2020, earning a combined turnover estimated at £41.2 billion.  The MP points out that the Johnson’s administration’s continuing Energy Security Strategy and its Net Zero Strategy aim to leverage £100 billion of extra private investment, on the path to creating an additional 480,000 British jobs by 2030.

Skidmore frames his reforms by topic, including :

• establishing an Office for Net Zero Delivery, responsible for placing delivery at the heart of government thinking
• Establishing this year a financing strategy across Whitehall with a bias towards spurring green spending by government & industry
• Using infrastructure, including extending Ofgem’s powers to speed connection of already cheaper onshore wind and solar to the grid
• Pulling policy levers to advance network adaptations & developments favouring new industry inputs such as hydrogen and stored CO2
• Targeting a ‘Help to Grow Green’ campaign at SMEs, informing them on how to plan and invest

• Engaging consumers and businesses with a standardised approach to ecolabelling of products, and a Net Zero Charter mark, acknowledging ‘best in class’ achievement by firms

Over 1,800 submissions and 50 roundtables with financiers, enterprises, technologists and environmentalists went into Skidmore’s Mission Zero report

Its first part quantifies the benefits to individuals and Britain’s economy of an accelerated drive towards Net Zero. Its second sets out a roadmap for how government and industry can exploit the goal’s opportunities, and catalyse action in individual sectors of the economy, such as enhancing the role of local authorities

Lord Nick Stern, lead author of the economic review which inspired Labour’s 2008 Climate Change Act, highlighted how the UK is well-placed to benefit from the increasing demand for net-zero goods and services

“The review argues convincingly that the transition to a net-zero economy is the growth opportunity of the 21st century”, said Stern.

“It also correctly highlights the critical importance of government by providing clarity, certainty, consistency and continuity of policy. I hope the Prime Minister and his government will respond to the review with the urgency and scale required”.

For the Aldersgate Group of environmentally progressive businesses and financiers, executive director Nick Molho said:

“The Skidmore Review is absolutely right to emphasise that the net zero transition is a major pro-business and pro-investment opportunity.

“Its recommendations are based on an impressively comprehensive engagement with businesses and civil society. The government should use this review to produce an updated and strengthened Net Zero Strategy early this year”.

Energy and business secretary Grant Shaps added “I am grateful to Chris– the man who signed our climate commitments into law – for his report. It offers a range of ideas and innovations for us to consider as we work to grasp the opportunities from green growth”.

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