SUBSIDIES TO KEEP NET ZERO MOVING FORWARD

Have you heard about the Subsidy Control Act 2022? No, nor had I until I got an email inviting me to attend this online conference. Click this link for a few details of the conference: 

Westminster Forum Projects | Next steps for the UK subsidy control regime 

This conference will look at next steps for the subsidy control regime and moving the state aid system forward in the UK, following the Subsidy Control Act 2022 coming into effect in January 2023.

Areas for discussion include the new application and self-assessment processes and streamlined routes, and provisions placing increased responsibility on businesses to analyse the potential contribution of their plans to policy and public good goals. [ I did not know that businesses had a responsibility to help achieve "public good goals"]

"The conference will also be an opportunity to discuss the role

 of streamlined routes in contributing to the UK economic 

growth and wider policy goals, such as the transition to net 

zero".

Subsidies, or grants, have always been an important part of 

the funding for councils and so this puts a good deal of pressure on them to deliver the targets and policies of the national government, even if it is not an actual legal requirement.

As the cost of achieving net zero becomes ever more 

expensive these subsidies will need to keep increasing as 

councils try to keep balancing their budgets while cost 

pressures in other vital areas keep increasing. For example, 

we are currently experiencing a housing crisis and desperately need more council homes. How will the money be found to build them if the housing budget has to be spent on achieving net zero?