EU and UK announce joint organization to install solar panels for free

As a response to increasing pressure to act on climate change, the UK government and the European Commission announced to fund a new organization with more than £500bn that installs solar panels on every rooftop for free.

The organization is the latest move in the race to combat climate change and to reduce reliance on energy-imports, but still has to be approved by the UK and EU parliaments.

In the last years, the rate of new solar installation increased while prices fell. However, the speed at which companies compete to add new installations is not sufficient to reach the climate goals laid out in the Paris-agreement.

Last summer, more than 60 Labour MPs wrote to the Prime Minister saying they backed the proposal with the association of Labour Unions also calling on the government to act.

"We identified and addressed the issue of unsustainable economic and technological dependence on fossil fules, and invite other countries in the world to join the organization." said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a press conference on Monday.

The law makes the funds for the organization available was passed in a UK parliamentary session in April and in the EU Parliament last Monday making.

If all goes to the lawmakers' plans, the organization will become the biggest electricity provider in the world.

"The organization will own the solar installations and sell the electricity at a competitive rate to the people living under the roofs" said Luna McLanghorn, the General Secretary of the newly founded organization.

Nader Henein, energy governance analyst at Gartner, said "this legislative step was urgently needed", given the urgency at which “the economy needs sustainable energy”.

“Under normal circumstances, organisations would simply switch to renewable energy on their own,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the amount of pressure caused by the torrent of subsidized fossil fuels and fears created around renewable energy make this step nescessary” he added.

In response to the announcements, the FTSE went up 103 points while the S&P 500 index closed more than 20% lower.

American oil giants Exxon-Mobil, Chevron and Shell were particularly hard hit, plummeting by almost 70% the markets recognized the imminent thread for fossil fuels.

Swetha Ramachandran, fund manager for Artemis Investment Management in London, said Tuesday’s US share falls were a sign that investors were beginning to doubt Trump’s promise that climate change would not interfere with business.

The oil companies slide was a matter of “expectations catching up with reality”, she told the BBC.

Exxon-Mobil, Chevron and Shell declined to comment.