UK approves Sizewell C nuclear plant after La Caisse investment
energy security
goals.
The government, the largest shareholder in the project, said Sizewell C, in eastern England, will cost around £38 billion ($51 billion) to construct.
The project will also be funded by Canadian pension fund La Caisse, British Gas owner Centrica,
Amber Infrastructure
and French energy giant EDF.
"It is time to do big things and build big projects in this country again," Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said in a statement. "Today we announce an investment that will provide clean, homegrown power to millions of homes for generations to come," he added.
The plant, which has been in financial limbo for over a decade, is not expected to start generating electricity until the 2030s.
The projected construction cost of £38 billion exceeds previous official estimates of £20 to £30 billion - and campaigners have warned that further cost overruns or delays could impact households.
The final investment decision gives the government a 44.9 per cent stake in the project. Among the new investors in Sizewell C, La Caisse holds a 20 per cent stake, Centrica 15 per cent and investment manager Amber Infrastructure an "initial" 7.6 per cent.
EDF announced earlier this month that it will take a 12.5 per cent stake in the project - down from 16.2 per cent ownership the end of 2024.
The UK has refocused on shoring up nuclear power since the start of the war in Ukraine, in the name of energy security and faced with a fleet of ageing power stations.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government has also pledged by 2035 to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions by 81 per cent on 1990 levels, under plans to reach net-zero by 2050.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India.com
4 minutes ago
- India.com
Free Trade or Colonial Bias? After India-UK FTA, Homegrown Liquor Makers Accuse British Market Of Discriminating Against Indian Brands
New Delhi: The ink was barely dry on the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) when a new unease began brewing, not in trade offices, but in the distilleries of India. A growing number of Indian liquor companies say they are feeling left out and locked out. While the FTA has opened India's gates wider for British gin and Scotch with reduced import duties, the doors to the U.K. market, they claim, remain unfairly barricaded for Indian-made spirits. At the center of the anger is the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC), a body that speaks for India's local liquor manufacturers. According to its Director General Anant S Iyer, what India removed in tariff walls, the United Kingdom has maintained in 'non-tariff barriers', rules that may not show up in price charts but block access all the same. 'The United Kingdom and even the European Union (EU) do not allow fair imports of most Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) products into their markets due to non-tariff barriers related to maturation and ingredients. We only wish that the Indian government had stood firm on the issue of non-tariff barriers,' he said. The bone of contention is the UK's strict definition of what can be sold as whisky. The British standard mandates that whisky must be matured for a minimum of three years. This rule is applied to both domestic and imported spirits. But Iyer says what works in cold European cellars does not work in the Indian climate. 'In India, the maturation is much faster due to the tropical climate. If we keep it for three years, we lose almost one-third of the spirit to evaporation. That is a financial loss. It also changes the flavour profile. It is a punishment for making whisky in a warmer land,' he explained. Because of the three-year rule, Indian whiskies that mature faster due to heat are disqualified from calling themselves 'whisky' under British law. Instead, they must be labelled as 'Indian spirits', a description that, Iyer says, cuts them off from mainstream whisky shelves and consumer attention in the United Kingdom and Europe. 'We want to be allowed to call it Indian Whisky or Indian Rum or Indian Brandy. Let consumers decide. Let the market decide. Right now, we are kept out simply because we do not age our spirits in cold basements,' he added. The CIABC has now urged the Indian government to actively pursue the matter with the United Kingdom. They argue that without reciprocal access for Indian products, the billion-dollar export vision for the Indian liquor industry will remain out of reach. 'The government has set an ambitious target of achieving $1 billion in exports from the Indian alcobev (alcoholic beverage) industry by 2030. However, without ensuring proper market access, it will be difficult to meet this target. Though Indian whiskies, rum, gins, wines, etc. have been winning accolades globally, the lack of removal of non-tariff barriers and absence of reciprocal market access will make this export target hard to achieve,' Iyer said. There is also growing concern about what is flowing into India. While British spirits are now allowed in at lower duties, Indian manufacturers fear that Scotch whisky and other bottled-in-origin (BIO) liquors may soon dominate Indian shelves by being routed through third countries at cut prices, hurting the premium Indian market before it even matures. To counter this, the CIABC has recommended that the Indian government fix a Minimum Import Price (MIP) on such foreign products. 'The government has incorporated MIP in the India-UK FTA on rum, brandy and other liquor products. The only exception on this count being Scotch Whisky/other whiskies/Gin originating from the United Kingdom,' Iyer added. He urged the government to monitor billing data and use technology to trace each bottle from port to shelf. 'We hope the government will ensure that Scotch whisky and other BIO spirits are not dumped in India at low import prices or routed through any other country at cheaper rates. This will hurt the growth of premium and luxury Indian brands,' he said. For now, India's liquor makers are pouring their hopes into diplomatic channels. Their demands include recognition, fairness and a level playing field. 'We do not want favours. We just want the right to sell our products under the names they deserve,' Iyer concluded.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Vijai Sharma, Kyoto Protocol architect & India's ex-chief climate negotiator, dies
For over a decade and a half, Vijai Sharma fought for the rights of India and other developing countries at the international climate negotiations. He was one of the architects of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which strongly safeguarded the interests of the developing countries, and ensured that the primary responsibility of reducing the impacts of climate change was taken by the rich and the developed world. A 1974-batch IAS officer, who served as the Environment Secretary and then as Chief Information Commissioner, Sharma died in the United States, where he was visiting his son on July 23, after suffering a stroke, family sources said. He was 75. Sharma lived in Lucknow. Sharma had two productive stints in the Environment Ministry. During his first stint as joint secretary, between 1995 and 2001, he became India's chief negotiator at international climate talks, which had just been initiated, and strongly influenced the finalisation of the Kyoto Protocol. He was also instrumental in ensuring that Delhi hosted these talks COP8 in 2002. After stints in the Cabinet Secretariat, and other places, Sharma returned to the Environment Ministry as its Secretary in 2008. By this time, the developed countries had already begun the process of dismantling the Kyoto Protocol, and replacing it with something they were more comfortable with. This was also the time when India's environmental governance came under great scrutiny, with an increasing number of industrial and infrastructure projects testing the environmental norms. Sharma presided over a period of strengthening of India's environmental regulatory structure to bring in greater transparency. 'Vijay Sharma was the quintessential civil servant — fearless in giving advice but faithful in execution even when his advice was not taken. I have many fond memories of my close association with him for a decade and a half. He had wide interests and possessed an irreverent sense of humour. He loved it when he himself became the subject of humour, laughing at the description I once gave him — Sir Humphrey Sharma (Humphrey Appleby was a character from the British TV series Yes Minister),' said Jairam Ramesh, then Environment Minister under whom Sharma served as Secretary. After retiring, Sharma became an expert member at the National Green Tribunal, a new institution created during his time, before being appointed the Chief Information Commissioner. Sharma, who had a postgraduate law degree from Harvard University, had a passion for history, and authored, along with his wife and IAS officer Rita Sharma, a few books on the forts of India. But he continued to be sought out for his expertise on environment and climate law and policy. 'As an administrator he had a keen eye for details. He used to recall with great pride how he had to burn midnight oil, as G77 and China coordinator in the climate negotiations, to shape the rules of the carbon market under the Kyoto Protocol. He was also quite proud of his contribution to the introduction of CNG buses in Delhi under the Supreme Court orders and recounted in detail how the decision was implemented. His departure leaves a void in the world of climate negotiators of the Kyoto era. He will be deeply missed by those who worked with him when India's climate policy was still shaping up in the early years of this century,' said R R Rashmi, former IAS officer and chief negotiator on climate talks himself.
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Israel will have to make decision, says Trump as Gaza crisis worsens
Amid the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and the breakdown of delicate negotiations, US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that Israel would have to make a critical decision regarding the ongoing war in Gaza. Speaking to reporters in Scotland, Trump acknowledged the collapse of the ceasefire and hostage-release talks with Hamas had complicated the path ahead."They don't want to give them back, and so Israel is going to have to make a decision," Trump said of the hostages held by Palestinian militants. However, he declined to reveal his personal view on Israel's next also accused Hamas of stealing food supplies meant for Gaza and selling them, contradicting an internal US government report. According to news agency Reuters, US officials found no proof of theft of humanitarian aid by Hamas. Despite tensions, Trump pledged increased humanitarian aid to Gaza, but also called on other countries, particularly in Europe, to share the responsibility. "We're giving a lot of money, a lot of food, a lot of everything," Trump said. "If we weren't there, I think people would have starved, frankly. They would have starved."Trump seemed frustrated over what he called a lack of gratitude from European nations. "No other country gave anything," he said. "It makes you feel a little bad when you do that, and, you know, you have other countries not giving anything Nobody gave but us. And nobody said, Gee, thank you very much."The president also mentioned discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the CONSIDERS ALTERNATIVE MEASURESThe deadlock over ceasefire and hostage negotiations has hardened positions. Netanyahu said that Israel is considering "alternative" measures to bring home hostages and dismantle Hamas's control of backed Netanyahu, saying, "Hamas really didn't want to make a deal. I think they want to die And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job." He predicted that Hamas leaders would be "hunted down" following the collapse of CRISIS WORSENS AMID BLOODSHEDThe humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated sharply in the past few months. Gaza's health ministry reported that more than 130 people, including 87 children, have died from malnutrition and hunger since the start of Israel's assault. Over the past 24 hours alone, six new deaths related to starvation have been of starvation and suffering have sparked alarm. Former President Barack Obama condemned the blockade on aid supplies, writing on X, "There is no justification for keeping food and water away from civilian families,' and calling for urgent action 'to prevent the travesty of innocent people dying of preventable starvation."advertisementOver 20 Democratic US senators also sent a letter to the Trump administration urging it to end funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation -- a new private aid group -- and to restore support for the UN's aid distribution. The United Nations claims Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people near GHF's food distribution current bloodshed traces back to October 2023, when Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking approximately 250 hostages, according to Israeli response, Israel's military assault on Gaza has resulted in nearly 60,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza's health ministry. The assault has displaced the almost entire population of Gaza, devastated infrastructure, and led to a severe hunger crisis.- EndsWith inputs from AgenciesTune InMust Watch
