The prime minister has set out a £12 billion ten point plan for a “green industrial revolution”, that also aims to create and support up to 250,000 British jobs.

Covering clean energy, transport, nature and innovative technologies, the blueprint supports the government's aim of the UK achieving net zero by 2050, when it comes to helping tackle global climate change.

The plan is part of the government's run-up to next year's COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

The £12 billion strategy that is designed to create those 250,000 “highly-skilled” green jobs hopes to “spur over three times as much private sector investment by 2030”, said prime minister Johnson.

At the centre of his blueprint are the UK’s industrial heartlands, including the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands, Scotland and Wales.

The ten areas for action are:

-Offshore wind: Producing enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much is produced in the UK from to 40GW by 2030, which the government claims will support up to 60,000 jobs.

-Hydrogen: Working with industry to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.

-Nuclear: Advancing nuclear as a “clean” energy source, and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors, which “could” support 10,000 jobs.

-Electric vehicles: Backing car manufacturing bases, including in the West Midlands, North East and North Wales, to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and transforming national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles.

-Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport of the future.

-Jet Zero and greener maritime: Supporting “difficult-to-decarbonise” industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.

-Homes and public buildings: Making homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, “whilst creating 50,000 jobs by 2030”, and a “target” to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.

-Carbon capture: Becoming a “world-leader” in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber today.

-Nature: Protecting and restoring our natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year, whilst “creating and retaining thousands of jobs”.

-Innovation and finance: Developing the cutting-edge technologies needed to reach these new energy ambitions and making the City of London the “global centre of green finance”.

On the electric vehicles front, Johnson confirmed the UK will end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, ten years earlier than planned. Hybrid cars and vans that can drive a “significant distance” with no carbon coming out of the tailpipe will be allowed until 2035.

In addition, £1.3 billion will be spent to accelerate the roll-out of charge points for electric vehicles in homes, streets and on motorways across England.

Also, nearly £500 million will be spent in the next four years for the development and “mass-scale production” of electric vehicle batteries.

Prime minister Boris Johnson said: “Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales, so we can look ahead to a more prosperous, greener future.”

Stephen Kelly, chair of UK technology industry body Tech Nation, said of the plan: “It’s promising to see a multi-billion pound package of green investment announced by the government that brings much needed support to clean technologies working towards the net zero goal, and which builds on the 'levelling up' agenda across Britain.

“NetZero technology companies are a critical part of the equation and they need backing to create solutions to the greatest challenge of our time.”

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