Brexit and Decarbonisation, One Year On: Friction, fish and fine tuning

The UK-EU Trade & Cooperation agreement was finally agreed in December 2020 and we are now also a year on from the end of the transition period. This is an opportune time to re-visit Brexit and its implications, in particular for the UK’s ability to put itself on a clear pathway to meeting legally binding emissions reduction targets at a vital time for sustainable energy policymaking.

This paper outlines what we see as being the main implications of Brexit for UK energy and climate policy and politics, which we separate out into three main sections: markets and interconnectors; UK in a global context; and policy capacity and Brexit opportunity costs. It is based on analysis of key government and think tank documents, a survey of 85 UK and EU based stakeholders, and is further supported by supplementary semi-structured interviews.