Lincoln Climate Commission Calls for Retention and Refinement of Green Masterplan as the Proposed Environment Policy Abandons Net Zero Target and Puts 12,000 Jobs and £1.2 Billion of Annual Economic Value at Risk

Lincolnshire County Council is proposing to scrap its Green Masterplan and abandon its commitment to net zero, describing the target as "unachievable”  - opposing solar farms, wind turbines and electricity pylons across the county.

The Lincoln Climate Commission believes this is the wrong decision, based on the wrong numbers. Reform UK has cited figures of up to £225 billion to claim that net zero is unaffordable. The independent analysts whose work was used to generate that figure have publicly rejected this as a misrepresentation. In reality, the Government's own climate advisers put the net cost at less than £70 per person per year (roughly the price of a streaming subscription), and the Office for Budget Responsibility has concluded that doing nothing will cost the public finances far more than acting.

Scrapping the Masterplan puts at risk 12,000 jobs and £1.2 billion of annual economic value already generated by Lincolnshire's green economy, and would send exactly the wrong signal to the businesses and investors the county needs to attract.

Lincolnshire's green economy is not a future aspiration. It is already here. Data from the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which closed in February 2025, shows the sector employs over 12,000 people and generates £1.2 billion per annum for the region. It is anchored by a world-leading offshore wind hub in Grimsby, a nationally significant pipeline of solar investment, newly approved green energy infrastructure at Flixborough, and a growing agri-food innovation sector.

The Lincoln Climate Commission believes the risks to this sector are now acute, with both Lincolnshire County Council and the Reform UK-led Greater Lincolnshire County Combined Authority (GLCCA) aligned in active opposition to the renewable energy infrastructure on which these jobs and investment depend.

Simon Croxton, Chair, Lincoln Climate Commission said: “The question is not whether the transition to Net Zero happens, but whether Lincolnshire positions itself to benefit from it. The county has real strengths in sectors that will play a major role in this change, from offshore wind to agri-food innovation. A clear, prioritised Masterplan gives investors, businesses, government and constituents greater confidence in the County Council. Refining the Masterplan makes sense. All this talk of the potential for fracking does not. Any decision that represents walking away from the green agenda in the county risks sending the wrong signal at the wrong time. What is required is for the County Council to act as a facilitator, convenor and persuader — working with central government, academia, the business sector and its communities to promote Lincolnshire as a regional hub for renewable technologies and to positively encourage inward investment.”

What the Proposed Environment Policy Does — and What It Removes

The Green Masterplan, under which the county council achieved a 74.6% reduction in its own operational carbon emissions from the 1990 baseline, is being closed and replaced by the new draft policy (Appendix B, Project Closure Report, 23 January 2026). The draft Environment Policy (v.09, 6 March 2026) describes net zero as “an unachievable target” with costs that are “unsustainable,” and states it is “not considered necessary to change the character of the Lincolnshire landscape” through infrastructure such as “on-shore windfarms, solar panels or electricity transmission pylons.” The Commission welcomes the policy’s commitments on flood risk, biodiversity and energy efficiency, but argues that accepting the need to adapt to climate change while abandoning mitigation is both strategically flawed and ultimately more expensive. This position is powerfully reinforced by the HM Government national security assessment ‘Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security’ (2025), which concludes with high analytical confidence that every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse, that some, including boreal forests and coral reefs, could begin to collapse from 2030, and that cascading consequences will include food insecurity, mass migration and geopolitical conflict. Its finding is clear: a 2050 net zero target is not ambitious enough. Lincolnshire, as a low-lying county already exposed to flooding and coastal erosion, should be arguing for faster action, not slower.

The Commission further notes that on 31 July 2025, MP Richard Tice, Mayor Andrea Jenkyns and Council Leader Sean Matthews jointly launched the ‘Lincolnshire Opposes Renewable Eyesores’ (LORE) campaign opposing solar farms, pylons and battery storage. Mayor Jenkyns has separately stated support for fracking in the county, saying “drill baby, drill,” despite fracking having been banned in England since 2019. These positions stand in direct conflict with the county’s existing green economy.

The Economic Stakes

The Green Masterplan is a strategy for economic resilience, not simply an environmental one. Disengagement will not halt national progress towards clean energy. Abandoning it will mean jobs, contracts and investment are secured elsewhere instead of Lincolnshire. Grimsby is already the UK’s leading offshore wind operations hub: Ørsted alone employs almost 700 people across its East Coast operations (December 2025), and RWE opened a new Grimsby hub in July 2025, employing over 90 staff growing to around 140 by 2027. The Greater Lincolnshire LEP identified up to £60 billion of potential private low-carbon investment over 15 years. In October 2025, the government approved the 500MW Tillbridge Solar Farm — the UK’s largest — projected to support 1,250 jobs, one of four major solar projects in the county totalling nearly 2.1GW. A Development Consent Order was granted in March 2025 for the North Lincolnshire Green Energy Park at Flixborough, projected to create 257 permanent jobs, 600 construction roles and 100 apprenticeships. This is the pipeline that the draft policy and the council’s public positions put at risk.

The Evidence on Costs and Climate Risk

The argument that opposing net zero protects taxpayers is not supported by independent evidence. The New Economics Foundation (May 2025) calculated that halting large-scale renewables would cost the UK economy £67–92 billion and destroy over 60,000 jobs by 2030. CBI estimates cited by Energy Minister Michael Shanks (July 2025) put net zero sector employment across the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber at almost 138,000. The Local Government Association projects 4,145 direct low-carbon jobs in North East Lincolnshire alone by 2050. Reform UK claims net zero will cost up to £225 billion — but the Institute for Government, whose work underpinned that figure, publicly stated it had been misrepresented: the overwhelming majority is private-sector investment, not taxpayer spend. The Climate Change Committee's 7th Carbon Budget (February 2025) puts the actual net cost at less than £70 per person per year. The Office for Budget Responsibility (July 2025) independently validates this, and concludes that the fiscal cost of inaction (e.g. climate damage, lower growth, higher borrowing) could add more than 50% of GDP to public debt.

“Lincolnshire has earned its place as a leader in the UK’s green economy through a decade of genuine industrial transformation. That progress was built on policy stability, private investment, and cross-sector collaboration. The proposed Environment Policy puts all three at risk. We welcome the refinement of the Masterplan where that means sharper priorities and stronger business engagement. What we cannot accept is its abandonment, or the pursuit of a fracking agenda that contradicts national law, undermines investor confidence, and ignores the long-term costs that climate inaction will impose on this county’s communities and public finances.”

Simon Croxton, Chair, Lincoln Climate Commission

The Commission’s Call to the County Council

The Lincoln Climate Commission calls on Lincolnshire County Council to:

1. Withdraw the draft Environment Policy in its current form and instead retain the Green Masterplan as the county’s strategic framework, refined to prioritise high-return projects and strengthened by greater business and community input.
2. Restore a science-based, long-term carbon reduction target aligned with the UK’s statutory net zero obligations under the Climate Change Act 2008.
3. Distinguish between legitimate planning concerns about individual projects and blanket opposition to renewable energy infrastructure as expressed in the draft policy.
4. Abandon the pursuit of fracking, which contradicts England’s existing moratorium, conflicts with statutory climate targets, and risks serious reputational and legal consequences for the county.
5. Act as a facilitator, convenor and persuader, working with central government, academia, the business sector and local communities to promote Lincolnshire as a regional hub for renewable technologies and green investment.
6. Commission an independent economic impact assessment of the draft Environment Policy’s likely effect on inward investment, employment, and long-term public finances in Lincolnshire.

Notes to Editors

About the Lincoln Climate Commission: The Lincoln Climate Commission is an independent, volunteer-led advisory body established in September 2020. It brings together Local businesses, the University of Lincoln, Lincoln City Council and civil society organisations. It serves as a strategic forum for Greater Lincolnshire’s transition to a low carbon emission and climate resilient future. It is a member of the ESRC-funded UK Place-Based Climate Action Network. Web: lincolnclimate.org.uk

About the Environment Policy and Green Masterplan Closure Report: The draft Lincolnshire County Council Environment Policy (Appendix A, Draft v.09, 6 March 2026) is a council document currently in draft form going before Full Council. The Green Masterplan Project Closure Report (Appendix B, authorised by Executive Director Andy Gutherson on 23 January 2026) confirms the Masterplan is being closed as a transformation programme and superseded by the new Environment Policy. All direct quotations attributed to these documents in this press release are taken verbatim from these documents.

Note on the Greater Lincolnshire LEP: The Greater Lincolnshire LEP closed on 1 February 2025 as part of the government’s national programme of LEP consolidation. Strategic economic planning functions transferred to the Greater Lincolnshire County Combined Authority (GLCCA), led by Reform UK Mayor Andrea Jenkyns.

Note on the LORE campaign: The ‘Lincolnshire Opposes Renewable Eyesores’ (LORE) campaign was launched at a joint press conference on 31 July 2025 at Boston United football ground, attended by Boston and Skegness MP Richard Tice, Greater Lincolnshire Mayor Andrea Jenkyns and Lincolnshire County Council Leader Sean Matthews. Sources: ITV Calendar, lincsonline.co.uk, 31 July 2025.

Note on fracking statements: Mayor Jenkyns’s statements supporting fracking in Lincolnshire, including the phrase “drill baby, drill,” have been reported by multiple sources including DeSmog (August 2025), Lincolnshire World (February 2026) and the Guardian, (Feb 2026), citing meetings with executives from Egdon Resources, a British subsidiary of US company Heyco Energy. Fracking has been banned in England since 2019.