David Kennedy, the chief executive of the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC), has been rejected for the post of permanent secretary at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) by no less than the prime minister himself, David Cameron, despite having the personal recommendation of the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey. As a result the department now has to re-run the selection process for the post.
The story was broken by the Financial Times this morning and quickly picked up by green media sites, notably Business Green. The FT stated that Kennedy had been widely considered to be the best man for the job given that Kennedy is an economist by training with an expert knowledge of energy and climate change economics. He previously worked for the World Bank, has been CEO of the CCC for the past four years and has been involved in the development of numerous reports calling on the government to deliver decarbonisation targets. Ironically it might have been the latter action that sealed his fate.
“The recent competition for the DECC permanent secretary role has concluded without an appointment” a DECC spokesman announced, adding that the position will be “advertised again shortly”. The role became available following the departure of Moira Wallace in July.
In response to the announcement, Friends of the Earth’s David Powell suggested on Twitter that Kennedy was rejected for the post because “he thinks it's cheapest to bloody well get on with rapid decarbonisation”. The PM’s intervention also risks fuelling the ongoing divide between the Tories and the Liberal Democrats over energy and climate change policy.
Although Number 10 refused to comment on the issue, Whitehall sources admitted, in response to an approach by Business Green, that the suggestion the appointment had been blocked for political reasons was “broadly in the right sort of area”.
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