Kwasi Kwarteng has today (Wednesday 30 March 2022) appointed Peter Mather as a Non-Executive Board Member at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The board sets the vision for the department and guides overarching policy. Board members provide advice to the Secretary of State and the department’s executive team.

Peter Mather will lead on the board for overseeing the department’s work on the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy, while prioritising efforts to increase the UK’s clean energy independence by increasing home-grown energy and renewables.

Peter’s role will be vital in shaping government policy that helps consumers, businesses, and heavy industry to reduce emissions and reliance on expensive fossil fuels, while harnessing the benefits of cheap, clean renewable energy.

Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said:

In our national mission to ensure the UK’s clean energy independence, Peter’s wealth of experience in the energy industry will prove invaluable as we ​ensure our energy security into the future by boosting nuclear power and renewables in the UK.

I look forward to working with him, and the rest of our board, to deliver on our energy security goals and to supercharge our use of cheap, clean renewables.

Peter has a wealth of knowledge in energy policy and strategy, with nearly 40 years of experience at BP. Peter has recently stepped down from BP as Regional Senior Vice President, Europe, and UK Head of Country, where he was deeply involved with the company’s net zero strategy, sitting on government councils for Jet Zero, Hydrogen, Carbon Capture Usage and Storage, as well as chairing the Business in the Community Climate Action Leadership team and the CBI’s Climate Change and Energy Board.

While the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels continues to fall, there will be an ongoing need for oil and gas over the coming decades while we ramp up renewable energy capacity, as recognised by the independent Climate Change Committee. The UK government is clear that we cannot have a cliff-edge where North Sea oil and gas are abandoned overnight. Turning off the taps would put energy security, British jobs and new industries like hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage at risk – and we would be even more dependent on foreign imports.

This appointment underlines the Business and Energy Secretary’s commitment to utilise commercial experience and expertise to bolster the government’s efforts to strengthen energy security and support Britain’s transition away from volatile and expensive fossil fuels over the coming decades.

Notes to editors

Non-executive board members are experts from outside government who provide oversight and challenge to the department in the development of policy and the management of resources.

BP is also working to cut carbon emissions and decarbonise its operations by generating cleaner energy through renewables such as wind and solar.