Mission Possible
Tracking policy progress
In the Mission Possible report, we shared five recommendations with the newly elected Government as it started its journey towards establishing Great Britain as a clean energy superpower.
Last updated: 16 Jun 2025
We’ll be tracking each development – and commenting on ongoing progress – on this page. Hover over each milestone in the tracker for more detail or explore the accessible version.
Achieving clean power by 2030
43%
Affordable energy bills and a sustainable retail energy market
10%
Warmer homes and cleaner transport
27%
A mission-led Government set up to succeed
27%
Closer UK-EU cooperation on Energy & Climate
0%
Energy UK overview
16 June
The Government’s Spending Review confirmed a number of our policy priorities outlined in Mission Possible. The announcement of £14.2 billion for Sizewell C, decision on a preferred bidder for SMRs as well as investment in nuclear fusion research are all serious commitments, and provide much-needed certainty to the sector after decades of missed opportunities.
The week prior saw the Government confirm that solar panels would be made mandatory for all new-build homes as part of the Future Homes Standard, due for publication in the Autumn. This news is very welcome and necessary to ensure that all the homes we build today are fit the future, and we look forward to seeing further details when they come.
The Government has now also consulted on updating the National Policy Statements to support grid and wider infrastructure upgrades – a core ask of ours that will help the Government meet the sheer scale of upgrades needed to modernise our transmission networks. We provided evidence to the ESNZ Committee inquiry on this issue and will be monitoring developments closely.
Cameron Stone, Public Affairs Officer
19 May
The UK Government and European Union met today to discuss possible areas of future cooperation between the UK and our European neighbours. Both sides have committed to explore the UK’s possible participation in the EU Internal Electricity Market, including participating in EU electricity trading platforms, and establish a link between the UK and EU carbon markets. Both sides have also agreed to enable mutual exemptions from Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAMs).
We look forward to progress being made in these negotiations. A combined UK-EU carbon market will make investing in decarbonisation easier and avoid UK exporters having to pay up to £800m by 2030 to export to the EU under the EU CBAM. Access to the EU’s electricity trading platforms would greatly improve the efficiency of electricity trading, lowering wholesale electricity costs – and therefore customer bills.
Robert Birch, Policy Manager
1 April
The Clean Heat Market Mechanism is now in place and will run from 1 April 2025, delivering a strong incentive towards the electrification of households. The removal of the 1m-rule for air source heat pumps similarly empowers households to decarbonise and reduce their energy bills.
Read our explainer ‘The Clean Heat Market Mechanism‘
11 March
The first few months of 2025 have seen further progress from the Government on the delivery of our Mission Possible priorities. The Crown Estate Bill reached Royal Assent in early March, catalysing billions of pounds of investment for clean energy projects up and down the country.
The introduction of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in early March reveals the ambition behind unblocking the blockers that have inhibited investment in our clean energy infrastructure for too long, with a reduction in the number of statutory bodies that get a say on planning decisions.
We look forward to making progress with the Government on support for vulnerable customers, including through inter-departmental data-sharing methods, a targeted support scheme alongside other measures outlined in our March report ‘How to cut bills: A crisis we can’t afford to ignore‘.
We also await the Spending Review in March for further updates on market reform, a FID for Sizewell C and further alignment with the CCC’s Seventh Carbon Budget released in February.
Cameron Stone, Public Affairs Officer
1 November
The Government’s first Budget contained some important announcements on energy policy, with several consequential developments for our Mission Possible priorities.
The announcement of £3.7bn in funding for 11 new green hydrogen projects is a statement of intent from the Government and represents a huge opportunity to kick-start the sector. We look forward to more specific details on how each project will be funded, alongside some clarity on how investment in green hydrogen will interact with Clean Power by 2030.
The confirmation that the ban on petrol and diesel engines by 2030 would be reinstated also provides much-needed confidence to the automotive sector as it looks to develop a competitive EV market. Further injections of cash for local authorities to assist EV infrastructure rollout and the plug-in vehicle grant demonstrate important progress is being made in reforming the approach to the strategic delivery of charging infrastructure.
The £2.7bn commitment to Sizewell C over 2025-2026, alongside confirmation that a Final Investment Decision (FID) will be made in the next spending review, is a welcome step towards certainty for the nuclear sector. We will be following news of a FID closely.
Cameron Stone, Public Affairs Officer
17 October
The first 100 days of the new Government have seen encouraging progress on a number of the key policy priorities set out in our Mission Possible report.
A clear and undeniable priority of the Government has been the kicking into gear of Clean Power by 2030. We welcomed the increased budget for AR6, the lifting of the de facto ban on onshore wind, and the announcement of £21.7bn of investment in Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage in north-west and north-east England, to name a few.
Equally, the Secretary of State’s announcement of a review into Energy Performance Certificates at Labour Party Conference is a reassuring sign that energy efficiency will be firmly on the agenda.
While we welcome the early progress made on Clean Power by 2030, Warmer Homes, and cleaner transport, there is still work to be done on the other Mission Possible policy priorities – such as reducing bills, building a sustainable energy market, closer UK-EU cooperation, and building a mission-led Government set up to succeed on energy.
Cameron Stone, Public Affairs Officer
Mission Possible policy tracker
Accessible version
| Clean power by 2030 | Overall progress: 37% |
| Increase the budget for Allocation Round 6 (AR6) by £500m for Pot 3 (offshore wind) and £200m for Pot 1 (onshore wind/solar) | Done |
| Make immediate decisions on Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) | Done |
| Commission NESO to develop a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) | Done |
| Remove the ban on onshore wind in England | Done |
| Introduce a cap and floor mechanism for Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) | Done |
| Allow The Crown Estate further borrowing and investment powers | Done |
| Make the Final Investment Decision for Sizewell C and provide certainty for the nuclear sector | Done |
| Consult on increasing CfD contract lengths from 15 to 20 years | In progress |
| Publish a multi-year allocation schedule with targeted volumes to align the CfD programme with 2030 and Net Zero | In progress |
| Adopt market-reflective reference prices by using DESNZ’s central scenario | In progress |
| Implement the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) review of Electricity Distribution | To do |
| Align with ENA and NESO on a public awareness campaign promoting the benefits of network infrastructure build out | To do |
| Introduce a statutory obligation for environmental regulators in England to make decisions on environmental permitting within six months | To do |
| Develop principles for the connection process in line with SSEP | To do |
| Create a standardised system across Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) for customers applying for a new connection | To do |
| Review DNO Guaranteed Standards of Performance | To do |
| Affordable energy bills and a sustainable retail energy market | Overall progress: 10% |
| Allow air source heat pumps to be built within one metre of a property boundary | Done |
| Improve targeting mechanisms for identifying those who need help with energy bills | In progress |
| Regulate Third Party Intermediaries (TPIs). Give Ofgem powers to regulate | In progress |
| Consult quickly on replacement of Smart installation targets | To do |
| Double the Warm Homes Discount (WHD) | To do |
| A retail energy offer enabled by socialising some policy costs through Government spending | To do |
| Rebalance/spread remaining policy costs across bills | To do |
| Consult on the future Smart framework | To do |
| Instigate an immediate review of workstreams related to locational signals | To do |
| Ensure changes to standing charges don’t negatively affect low-income households | To do |
| Warmer homes and cleaner transport | Overall progress: 27% |
| Announce a review of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) in the first 100 days to ensure they reflect a property’s true energy efficiency | Done |
| Reinstate the ban on new petrol and diesel cars beyond 2030 | Done |
| Introduce the statutory instrument (SI) for the Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM) | Done |
| Review the approach to strategic delivery of charging infrastructure, simplifying the approach for local authorities and private investors | In progress |
| Extend ECO by at least a year | In progress |
| Change Permitted Development Rights to allow easier installation of EV charging equipment | In progress |
| Review the National Planning Policy Framework to enable EV charging delivery | In progress |
| Implement the Future Homes Standard at pace | In progress |
| Build on the shelved Energy Efficiency Taskforce report to consult on a national energy efficiency programme | To do |
| Deliver the Project Rapid funding and review the approach to delivery on roadways critical to the UK economy | To do |
| Establish a body to give home decarbonisation advice | To do |
| A mission-led Government set up to succeed | Overall progress: 27% |
| Speed up work on hydrogen, and make the critical decision on how it will be funded | Done |
| Commission the CCC and NIC to define success for achieving clean power by 2030 | Done |
| Enable GB Energy to help coordination and invest in areas poorly served by the market | Done |
| Deliver a coordinated approach to green skills and training | In progress |
| Significantly reduce the number of statutory bodies that have a say on planning applications | In progress |
| Update the National Policy Statements (NPS) to support grid and wider infrastructure upgrades | In progress |
| Immediately review the Strategy and Policy Statement for Energy Policy. | To do |
| Bring forward the Hydrogen for Heating decision and confirm that electrified heat will be the primary technology | To do |
| Launch a review of the future of the local gas network alongside decisions on hydrogen for heating | To do |
| Establish a forum for arms-length bodies, as the responsibilities for delivery of Net Zero and power sector decarbonisation are split between them, and not well coordinated | To do |
| Align economic decisions with carbon budget decisions | To do |
| Closer UK-EU cooperation on Energy & Climate | Overall progress: 0% |
| Publicly state the UK’s intention to prioritise the electricity trading arrangements workstream under the TCA Specialised Committee on Energy | In progress |
| Pursue a bilateral UK-EU CBAM agreement | In progress |
| At the earliest opportunity, publicly state the UK’s desire to link the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) with the EU ETS | In progress |
| The UK ETS authority must make decisions on future markets policy | In progress |
| Commit to deepening the UK’s engagement with NSEC | To do |