Benedict McAleenan
Senior Fellow, Energy and Environment (2019-2023)
Benedict McAleenan was a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange’s Energy and Environment Unit. He is a public policy advisor with over 13 years’ experience advising on policy development, political risk and thought leadership in the Energy, FMCG, Manufacturing and Engineering sectors. His private sector clients have included National Grid, Centrica Energy, the Renewable Energy Association, Shell, Centrica, Sainsbury’s, Endurance Wind Power and Balfour Beatty.
Related Publications
Capital Shift
Download Publication Online Reader In 2021, the UK will host the G7 and COP26 and take a key part in other major summits, giving it a unique opportunity to lead the global diplomatic agenda. This report argues that he UK should use its position to drive a programme of green finance reforms that will enable a fundamental shift to a sustainable global economy. The paper recommends policies for a nature-based […]
Powering Net Zero
Download Publication Download Appendix 1: Aurora Energy Research Download Appendix 2&3: Detailed Policy Options The UK Government’s commitment to quadruple offshore wind capacity by 2030 will transform Great Britain’s electricity system. However, it poses serious challenges for the electricity market. Market conditions during the summer lockdown showed that the Government needs to make reforms, otherwise costs will rise and customers won’t benefit from the falling cost of wind and solar. […]
The Future of the North Sea
Download Publication Summary Slides The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill is to be considered again by the Public Bill Committee on 13 October 2022. One of the few clauses of the Bill yet to be considered is clause 187, which replaces provisions of the Vagrancy Act 1824 about begging and rough sleeping which were repealed earlier this year, but the repeal of which has not yet been brought into force. The […]
The Future of UK-EU Energy Cooperation
Download Publication Since the 1980s, UK and EU energy markets have become increasingly intertwined. Brexit doesn’t have to set back the development of a secure, affordable, low-carbon energy system in the UK and the EU, but new approaches to will be needed. In this paper, Policy Exchange explores new models for UK-EU energy cooperation based on shared interests in competitive energy markets, robust carbon pricing, and the sharing of renewable […]
Outbreaks and Spillovers
Zoonotic pathogens (those that originate in animals) are a growing risk to human populations. There were three times as many outbreaks in the 1990s as in the 1940s, and cases continue to rise. The majority of new infectious diseases originate in animals, including well-known diseases such as SARS, avian flu, Ebola and HIV. Whilst too early to say for sure, it is likely that SARS-CoV2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) originated in bats. Here Policy Exchange examines what is to be done to reduce the threat to human health and the global economy.
Bigger, Better Forests
Increasing tree cover in the UK is a matter of land use policy. This simple fact is often forgotten amid a rush to re-forest Britain through multiple schemes and interventions. This seemingly overlooks the fact that silviculture – the art and science of growing trees – is just one subset of land management. In the last 25 years, several government-backed new forests have been established or proposed, from the mid-1990s National Forest to the most recent ‘Northern Forest’, which is to stretch across the North East and North West of England. Though laudable and important (we propose a project of our own in this report), these schemes alone are not sufficient to address more fundamental barriers to tree planting, many of which are the direct results of public subsidies for a particular model of farming.
Modernising the United Kingdom
Unleashing the power of the Union – ideas for new leadership
Modernising the United Kingdom
Unleashing the power of the Union – ideas for new leadership
What do we want from the next Prime Minister?
A series of policy ideas for new leadership. Part 1: Housing, Energy and EnvironmentRelated Blogs
Government to explore Policy Exchange’s 2018 recommendation for a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
This week the Government announced that it is considering taxing imports from countries that don’t match the UK’s carbon emissions standards – a measure known as a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). That would be a major change to customs and trade policy, and suggests a fundamental shift in the UK’s strategy for addressing climate change. It was released in a written statement to the House of Commons by the […]
We should be preparing for a Russian gas shut-off
Over the weekend, long-held policy positions fell like dominoes in Berlin. Having already blocked his country’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia, Olaf Scholz committed to two new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) shipping terminals and a review of Germany’s anti-nuclear power policy. He is decoupling his economy from Russian gas. Germany is not just the EU’s power broker and largest economy. It’s also the bloc’s biggest user of Russian […]
Good moves in the Government’s Trees Action Plan
The Government’s tree strategy for England arrived this week, setting out a range of welcome measures designed to meet its manifesto promise of 30,000 hectares of new trees per year by the end of the Parliament. That’s about three times the current rate and it’s a tall order. Compared to places like France and Germany, which have tree cover upwards of 30%, the UK has a paltry 13%. In 2019, as […]
Course Correction
Read online or Download pdf Next: A Three-Pronged Attack Environmental Policy increasingly reaches the heart of all policy areas, starting with questions of the global balance of power Editorial by Benedict McAleenan Editorial by Benedict McAleenan At some point in the last few years, environmental policy became a strategic priority of nations. Protecting access to key resources has always been at the centre of geopolitics, but now the definition of […]
Good moves in the Government’s Trees Action Plan
The Government’s new plan for addressing England’s sparse tree cover echo several of Policy Exchange’s recommendations. The Government’s tree strategy for England arrived this week, setting out a range of welcome measures designed to meet its manifesto promise of 30,000 hectares of new trees per year by the end of the Parliament. That’s about three times the current rate and it’s a tall order. Compared to places like France and […]
Policy Exchange and the PM’s 10-Point Plan
The Prime Minister’s green announcement reflects several policies that we’ve championed over more than a decade. After some key personnel changes at the top, the Prime Minister has begun his administration’s ‘reset’ with a long-awaited 10-Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. The Plan has been broadly praised for its breadth and welcomed as a major statement of intent across multiple technologies. He combined knotty, unglamorous issues such as home […]
California dreaming: A plan to phase out petrol and diesel cars that might actually work
Transport is now the UK’s biggest source of climate-warming greenhouse gases. While other sectors slash their carbon footprint, our cars alone continue to produce 15 per cent of annual emissions — and the figure is still rising. To tackle this, earlier this year the government announced plans to bring forward a ban on new petrol and diesel cars to 2035. The response was an outcry from carmakers, who accused ministers […]
Net Zero needs a democratic mandate
Net Zero will face a backlash if it doesn’t attain a proper mandate – this election must give it one, argues Benedict McAleenan from Policy Exchange This article was originally published at BusinessGreen.com Whether its ‘Essex man’, ‘Mondeo man’ or ‘Worcester woman’, every election seems to have its target voter whom the parties hope will deliver them a majority. This time, for the Conservatives at least, we’re told it’s the […]