UK PM pledges green industrial revolution to help level up mission

London, Nov 23 (IANS) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that a green industrial revolution will create high-wage and high-skill jobs across the country as part of the government's mission to level up the country.

"We are on the brink of another revolution, a green industrial revolution. Again there are many ways in which we have first-mover advantage," he said on Monday at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual conference.

"And around the world, electric cars are getting ever more affordable. And at Glasgow two weeks ago the tipping point came, as motor manufacturers representing a third of the world market - including the EU and America - announced that they would go electric by 2035," he said.

The UK's sales of electric vehicles are now increasing at 70 per cent a year, Xinhua news agency quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

New homes and buildings will be required to have EV charging points - with another 145,000 charging points to be installed in the run-up to 2030 when the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will end in the country, he added.

In 2012, the UK was still 40 per cent dependent on coal for electricity. Today, only 10 years later, coal supplies less than 2 per cent of British power and by 2024 it will be down to zero, according to Johnson.

The Prime Minister said there are going to be radical changes from cars, truck, buses to ships, planes, home heating to farming methods and industrial processes because consumers, who can see the consequences of climate changes, will be the driving force for the change.

Britain has set out a 10-point plan for green industrial revolution, including developing offshore wind, hydrogen, zero emission vehicles, and the net zero strategy is expected to trigger about 90 billion pounds ($121 billion) of private sector investment, he said.