Prime Ministry Theresa May has made a major restructure of government, bringing together two substantial departments to create the single office for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
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Meanwhile, former DECC secretary Amber Rudd has been promoted to Theresa May’s former position of Home Secretary, while ex-Environmental Secretary Elizabeth Truss has replaced Michael Gove as the new Secretary of State for Justice.
Decc was created in 2008 by the then prime minister Gordon Brown.
Clark was previously the Communities and Local Government Secretary.
Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said: “Greg Clark is an excellent appointment”.
Other politicians also reacted with dismay to the change, with Green Party MP Caroline Lucas describing it as a “deeply worrying move” from new Prime Minister Theresa May.
“Climate change is the biggest challenge we face, and it must not be an afterthought for the government”.
“Dealing with climate change requires a dedicated Minister at the Cabinet table. To throw it into the basement of another Whitehall department looks like a serious backwards step”, she said.
“In some ways, the name above the door of the civil service department doesn’t matter”.
“In the coming months I will work constructively with any Minister willing to take climate change seriously, and I’ll be holding the Government to account for any backpeddling on our climate change commitments”.
However, he has also championed the green agenda in two papers written during his time at DECC, leading on the positive economic impact of the United Kingdom as a leader in the low carbon economy.
He said: “Does the minister agree that the scrapping of the Department of Energy and Climate Change can only be taken as a signal that the new Government attaches less significance to these important issues?”
“Abolishing the Department of Energy and Climate Change is a awful move by our new Prime Minister and signals a troubling de-prioritisation of climate change by this government”.
His appointment has also been welcomed by James Court, head of policy and external affairs, who said: “We are delighted Greg Clark has been appointed the new secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy”.
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Juliet Davenport, chief executive of renewable energy company Good Energy, urged the government to show that climate change remained a priority. “Greg Clark needs to move swiftly to reassure energy investors that there will be no change in the commitment to decarbonisation and that the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement will provide the policy framework to restart investment in vital low-carbon infrastructure”.
