Claire Coutinho MP appointed as Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero on the 31 August 2023.

Replacing Grant Shapps, who has been appointed Secretary of State for Defence following the resignation of the previous Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace. Before this appointment, Coutinho was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing, and an MP for the East Surrey constituency.

Our briefing analyses Coutinho’s views on energy policy, and the likely implications of her appointment for the sector. You can read the full briefing here The New Energy Secretary

If you would like to find out more about how Copper can help you navigate changes to energy policy, please contact Phoebe Sullivan.

Despite a now widespread understanding of the concept of climate change, and our global drive to Net Zero, it’s surprising just how low UK public awareness and understanding of renewable energy is.

There are also some interesting divisions in knowledge and support across certain demographics. Our report provides useful insights on helping segments of society to better understand renewables and engage.

To read our report, click here.

To find out more about our research into renewables, check out our recent reports into nuclear and solar.

• Empowering Nuclear Innovation: Building a skilled and sustainable future. 
• 2023- A transformative year for solar

A lot has moved on since our 2022 research was published. There are now well over ten solar projects being explored publicly as part of the NSIP regime in the UK. We’ve also seen significant announcements in the 2023 Spring Budget.

So how can we deliver quality solar projects at the scale needed and bring the community along for the journey?

Read the report, we’ve written in collaboration with Solar Energy UK here – 2023 – a transformative year for Solar: a study of public attitudes to solar development

Read our previous report here – 2022 – A bright future for solar: a study into public attitudes to solar energy

With nuclear energy recently classified as “environmentally sustainable” and the launch of Great British Nuclear, which could see nuclear energy account for up to 25% of our electricity by 2050, are we in the age of nuclear?

To find out, we asked the public to share their views on how they see nuclear serving the UK’s energy needs.

A General Election is on the horizon and net zero targets are quickly approaching. We’ve set out to understand the public’s thinking about the role climate change will have in voters’ minds at the ballot box and asked the question: will the next General Election by won or lost on climate change.

The Net Zero Energy Security and Growth Plan is a mandated response to last year’s High Court ruling, which deemed the 2021 Net
Zero Strategy as unlawful due to a breach of the Climate Change Act. The response includes a number of significant policy announcements
related to the power and infrastructure industries, in addition to those in the Spring Budget earlier this month.

The updated version of The Water Pipeline Readiness and reassurance report, sets out what the public think about water infrastructure and makes recommendations to industry about how we can best communicate the solutions that will keep the taps flowing.

Read the report here.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget includes a range of measures intended to stimulate economic growth and deliver stability, under four
pillars: Enterprise, Employment, Education and Everywhere. For the energy and infrastructure industry, key takeaways include a recommitment
to Levelling Up, nearly a billion in funding for investment zones in England and a significant boost of £20 billion pledged for carbon capture.

This report explores the main recommendations and what they mean for the infrastructure, energy, and construction sectors. Although not all of Skidmore’s recommendations may be taken forward, the considerable evidence he has gathered along with his personal pedigree will likely elevate the proposals up the political agenda.