Chris Stark leads government’s zero carbon mission

New body will head up government drive to decarbonise electricity

Ex-Climate Change Committee (CCC) chief executive Chris Stark has been appointed to head the new body being set up to spearhead the government’s mission to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030.

In his first act following Labour’s general election victory, energy security and net zero Secretary of State Ed Miliband announced on 9 July that Stark will lead the Mission Control central body. This will consist of a team of industry experts and officials to troubleshoot obstacles hindering rollout of Labour’s 2030 target, such as connecting new power infrastructure to the Grid.

Stark led the CCC from 2018 until earlier this year, when he left to join the Carbon Trust as chief executive. Under his leadership, the CCC published a report in 2019 that recommended a UK net zero target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which was subsequently adopted by Theresa May’s government. Before joining the CCC, Stark was director of energy and climate change in the Scottish Government.