The Role of Regulation in Driving Net Zero
Author WIG Date 5 Dec 2023
Join us for this webinar in partnership with the UK Regulators Network with an expert panel including Jane Dennett-Thorpe FEI, Deputy Director Net Zero Strategy at Ofgem; Georgina Collins, Director Regulated Industry, Environment Agency and Rob Salter-Church, Head of UK Regulatory Strategy, National Grid. Full credit to EcoLife for the above banner photo.
Mission Zero, the Independent Review tasked with assessing the government’s approach to net zero published in January 2022, highlighted the key role of regulators throughout its recommendations, outlining an approach characterised as “green tape rather than red tape” and the role regulation could take “in driving growth and delivering net zero”. Almost 6 months on from the subsequent ‘Powering Up Britain’ strategy, WIG is delighted to once again partner with the UK Regulators Network (UKRN) for this panel webinar. Join us to explore progress so far and discuss how organisations across the sectors can collaborate to ensure the UK regulatory landscape meets the challenges on route to the UK’s Net Zero 2050 target.
Watch now to hear expert insights and share your thoughts on topics including:
- The importance of regulators in providing a stable environment for business to plan and invest, and current plans for all regulators to coordinate on the signals they are sending about the net zero transition
- How cross-sector cooperation can enable smarter, more agile regulation that supports R&D and technology innovation for Net Zero
- The role of regulators in supporting ‘British Energy Security Strategy’ goals of 50GW of offshore wind by 2030 and up to 70GW of solar power by 2035; collaborating on the development of deployment roadmaps and streamlining planning processes
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Speakers at the Event
Jane has been dedicated to addressing climate change and bringing forward the energy transition for
over two decades, in a variety of roles. She has previously been Head of Evidence, the Deputy Head of
Science, and Head of Industrial Energy Efficiency in the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Since 2019 she has worked in the GB energy regulator Ofgem. She led the development of Ofgem’s
Decarbonisation Action Plan. She has also set up the Regulatory Energy Transition Accelerator, now
hosted at the IEA, to help energy regulators around the world provide more effective responses to the
climate challenge. She leads cross cutting strategic work to ensure the regulatory regimes can meet
the net zero challenges in particular through teams focussed on hydrogen and electric vehicles. She is
currently (jointly with the Chief Economic Advisor) leading a review of the future of network
regulation.
Georgina Collins joined the Environment Agency as Director of Regulated Industry in February 2022 having worked in government in a variety of policy, regulatory and delivery roles spanning Defra, the Cabinet Office and the Food Standards Agency. Most recent roles were in the Cabinet Office on supply chains and workforce disruption, and in Defra as Director of Floods and Water. Previously Georgina was Principal Private Secretary to the Environment Secretary George Eustice MP where she was responsible for supporting the leadership of Defra’s response to Covid-19 and the UK’s exit from the EU. Prior to that she worked in incident response, dealing with major flooding and water supply disruption, contingency planning in preparation for EU exit and directing the clean-up in Salisbury following the Novichok incident. Whilst working in food policy she was responsible for the Government response to the horsemeat scandal and the subsequent Elliott Review, and then the chemical safety of food in the FSA.
As Director of Regulated Industry Georgina is responsible for setting the overall strategy, vision and culture for the Environment Agency in our regulation of industry to deliver environmental and public health improvements, including regulating waste and tackling illegal activities, sector and site-based regulation to reduce the risk of pollution from industry, radioactive substance regulation and future regulation to support innovation and sustainable development.
Rob joined National Grid in March 2023 as Head of UK Regulatory Strategy. Rob is a public policy and regulation specialist with 20 years’ experience working across central government, Ofgem and PwC Strategy&. Whilst at Ofgem, Rob was a member of the Executive Board with responsibility for consumers and competition and as the organisation’s first Diversity Champion, he developed the regulator’s first Inclusion and Diversity strategy and founded their LGBT+ employee network.