Autumn statement leaves UK lagging on green investment

Climate experts lament a lack of boldness in Jeremy Hunt’s measures, which made no mention of energy efficiency

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Jeremy Hunt began his autumn statement with a boast about the new oil and gas licences the Conservatives had granted, implying that doing otherwise would have been a “short-term decision”.

But for environmental experts listening in, his autumn statement represented little more than short-term fixes and tinkering at the edges of one of the most critical challenges a modern government has to face.