In-depth: How the ‘Clean Growth Strategy’ hopes to deliver UK climate goals. The strategy covers the fourth and fifth carbon budgets, spanning 2023-2027 and 2028-2032, by when the UK must cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 57% below 1990 levels. Launched amid a sea of positive language from government, including the prime minister herself, the quantified elements of the strategy nevertheless leave the UK significantly off track achieving its targets. This means the government is largely relying on hoped-for policies or carbon budget “flexibilities”.
Carbon Brief 12th Oct 2017 read more »
Wide-ranging plans to cut carbon emissions and boost the economy put the UK on the right track but more action is needed, the Government has been urged. The long-awaited clean growth strategy sets out measures to cut carbon and drive growth with measures for housing, businesses, transport, agriculture and the power sector, and to make the UK a “world leader” in green finance. Business group the CBI’s Neil Carberry said the road to a low carbon world provided huge opportunities for the UK economy. The clean growth strategy was a step towards clarity for businesses after a period of uncertainty, he said, adding it was particularly welcome that the shift to a low carbon economy was seen as a cross-government priority. Industry body RenewableUK’s chief executive, Hugh McNeal described the plans as ambitious, and said they set the country “firmly on a course to deliver the modern, clean energy system which the UK needs”. He welcomed commitments to develop more offshore wind, wave, tidal and floating offshore wind schemes and allow wind projects on remote Scottish islands to bid for subsidies, but warned clarity was missing on the future of onshore wind – the cheapest clean technology. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said the Government had blown the opportunity to put the UK on track to meet its climate targets. There were some moves in the right direction, but they did not go far enough to shift the UK to a zero carbon future, she said. She criticised the failure to reinvigorate onshore wind, a lack of commitments on solar and tidal power, the ploughing of innovation funding into nuclear power and the lack of plans to rethink airport growth.
Energy Voice 13th Oct 2017 read more »
At the launch of the government’s long awaited Clean Growth Strategy the focus was clear. Clean Growth is about building a better Britain for the next generation. Green politics have always been caught up in the cross generational conflict of who pays. Now, prosperity and low carbon are no longer a compromise but aligned objectives for the economy. While it doesn’t quite crystallise the fossil in fossil fuels, the Strategy does provide a much needed energy boost to the previously embattled green power sector. Perhaps this is the government waking up to the concerns of the incoming (as opposed to outgoing and aging) generation of voters whose rude political awakening post-Brexit, and mass mobilisation during the recent election, have made everyone take notice, but in a way that doesn’t matter. The future will be greener.
Energy Voice 13th Oct 2017 read more »
Stamp duty in England may be changed to encourage people to make their homes more energy efficient. Energy minister Claire Perry told the BBC householders would face “carrots and sticks” to prompt them into saving on heating bills and carbon emissions. It may form part of a plan by ministers to get about a million homes a year renovated during the next two decades. The government will fail to meet its climate change laws unless it can cut emissions from household heating. The proposals are part of the government’s long-delayed Clean Growth Plan, being published on Thursday, which defines how it aims to reduce carbon emissions across the whole economy. As part of the Climate Change Act, the government needs to cut CO2 emissions by 57% from 1990 levels by 2050. Ed Matthew, from the climate change think tank E3G, has welcomed the plan but says there needs to be a clear strategy. He told BBC News: “The government is trying to triple the rate at which homes are being insulated. This policy is really ambitious but it needs money – and the Treasury has to stump up.” The UK has led the developed world by boosting its economy 60% whilst cutting carbon emissions 42% since 1990. But most of the carbon saving has come through cutting down on burning coal for power. Advisors warn that the government’s future policies will lead them to miss carbon targets by a long distance. They say emissions from transport and housing have recently been going up.
BBC 12th Oct 2017 read more »
More than six million homes will be insulated over the next 15 years to save families up to £650 a year on heating costs, under government plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. All “fuel poor” homes, in which residents spend more than 10 per cent of their income on heating, will be upgraded to a new minimum energy efficiency standard by 2030. Millions of people living in rented homes will also benefit, with landlords being forced to invest in measures to cut tenants’ energy bills. Banks will be encouraged to offer “green mortgages” that could give lower interest rates to people buying energy-efficient homes. A similar idea operates in the Netherlands, where prospective homeowners can borrow an extra €25,000 (£22,300) if they are buying a home that is highly energy efficient. G overnment sources played down suggestions that stamp duty rates would be changed to encourage investment in efficiency measures. The idea has not been ruled out but is not mentioned in the 164-page Clean Growth Strategy, in which the government sets out how it will meet its climate change targets. It includes proposals to almost quadruple the capacity of offshore wind farms by 2030. A “network of forests” covering 130,000 hectares will be created to store carbon in trees, with incentives for farmers to turn less- productive fields into woodland.
Times 13th Oct 2017 read more »
The UK Government announced on Thursday that it will invest £900m in renewables and nuclear to meet a 2050 emissions reduction target. The Government said it will spend £100m on technology that enables the capture of emissions and carbon dioxide on a national scale. It also said that it aims to cut 20 per cent of UK emissions by 2030, through supporting businesses to improve their energy efficiency, as part of an overall target to cut greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050. According to the Government, businesses and industry contributed a quarter of the UK’s total emissions in 2015, more than greenhouse gases from all vehicles on the road. It also outlined plans to spend an additional £1bn helping consumers to switch to low carbon vehicles and £80m on building electric charging points along motorways and roads, after Prime Minister Theresa May announced plans in July to ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2040.
Independent 12th Oct 2017 read more »
Millions of draughty homes in England and Wales will be insulated and overhauled by 2035 to save families as much as £300 a year on their energy bills, under the government’s climate change plans. The long-delayed blueprint for how the UK will hit its binding target of cutting emissions by 57% by 2032 includes about 50 policies supporting everything from low-carbon power and energy savings to electric vehicles and keeping food waste out of landfill. Big winners in the 164-page Clean Growth Strategy include offshore windfarm developers, which will be guaranteed a further £550m of subsidies. Experts believe that could more than double the UK’s existing offshore wind capacity. Energy efficiency for businesses and householders is at the heart of the plan, which the government was required to publish under the Climate Change Act. There is an aspiration that all houses will be brought up to the minimum of energy band C by 2035, but how that will be achieved is not spelled out. Existing schemes to improve insulation will be extended until 2028. New nuclear power stations are encouraged, but they will only go ahead if developers can do so at competitive prices. Solar power was given tentative support, while onshore windfarms won partial backing. Green campaigners, industry groups and businesses mostly welcomed the plan but said it needed more ambition and lacked detail in some areas. Robert Gross, the director of the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology at Imperial College London, said the politics of the strategy were key, and showed the greener wings of the Tory party had won out. “In 2015 the government started hacking and slashing at all manner of green policies. This has stopped, and that’s very welcome,” he said. Richard Black, the director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, echoed that view. He said the strategy showed a “sea change” in “top-line thinking about the low carbon economy”, with Theresa May’s government seeing it as an opportunity rather than a cost as it was viewed under David Cameron. Claire Perry, the climate minister, said May’s foreword to the plan was important and showed how seriously the government was taking it. Asked if the strategy showed green-minded Tories were winning out after a slew of climate programmes were axed by the Conservatives in 2015, she said: “This isn’t about factions winning, it’s about getting on with capturing the opportunity [for business].” She told the Guardian: “This is doubling down on the green ambition, actually saying we see the economic benefit from doing this.”
Guardian 12th Oct 2017 read more »
UK climate change masterplan the grownups have finally won. Government’s clean growth strategy unequivocally states that tackling climate change and a prosperous economy go hand in hand. The grownups have finally won and everyone in the UK, from those in cold homes to those on polluted streets and in flooded towns, will benefit. The most important aspect of the UK government’s new clean growth strategy is its unequivocal statement that tackling climate change and a prosperous economy are one and the same thing. This has been clear to many for some time, including Philip Hammond, if not his predecessor George Osborne. There is no long-term, high-carbon economic strategy because the impacts of unchecked climate change destroy economies, as Lord Nicholas Stern puts it. But the Conservative party has long been swinging between the green dream and fossil-fuelled fantasies. David Cameron went from pledging the “greenest government ever” to dismissing the “green crap” in three years. Recent years have seen one green policy shredded after another, destroying confidence among the businesses we need to deliver a low-carbon economy. The new strategy published on Thursday signals a new, if belated, beginning. It is the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel age: it is highly notable that the government plan omits any mention of fracking, having previously been its cheerleader.
Guardian 12th Oct 2017 read more »
The Government has unveiled its highly-anticipated Clean Growth Strategy, detailing how multi-billion-pound investments into low-carbon innovations and household energy-efficiency will push the UK towards its future carbon budgets. Following months of delays, the plan was finally presented to Parliament where Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark set out how the UK plans to the “lead the way” on global carbon reductions while driving economic growth. “This Government has put clean growth at the heart of its Industrial Strategy to increase productivity, boost people’s earning power and ensure Britain continues to lead the world in efforts to tackle climate change,” Clark said.
Edie 12th Oct 2017 read more »
The Government has pledged numerous multi-billion-pound investments to drive down carbon emissions across the economy as part of the Clean Growth Strategy, but does it “breathe new life” into the low-carbon sector or do the details “fall short”? Carbon capture and storage (CCS), energy efficiency and offshore wind power all play a prominent role in the Government’s landmark Clean Growth Strategy, which sets out how the Government intends to meet the fifth carbon budget, which seeks to limit the UK’s annual emissions to 57% below 1990 levels by the year 2032. The Government has unveiled how more than £2.5bn will be spent on low-carbon innovation, while a “package of measures” has been included to support business to improve energy productivity by at least 20% by 2030. The uptake of zero-emission vehicles and the energy performance of domestic buildings are prominent features in what is ultimately an ambitious and sweeping strategy. But as experts of the green economy sweep through the 165-page document, is the devil actually in the detail?
Edie 12th Oct 2017 read more »
A push to increase energy efficiency in homes and businesses is to be put at the heart of a £2.5bn plan by the UK to decarbonise its economy and try to ensure Britain meets its commitments to tackle climate change. Ministers on Thursday promised increased financial support and other incentives for consumers to reduce energy usage as part of a wide-ranging package of measures to curb the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions. Claire Perry, climate change minister, told the BBC that stamp duty cuts on more energy efficient homes were among the incentives being considered, although she later stressed that no final decisions had been taken. The energy industry, academics and consultants broadly welcomed the government’s long awaited “clean growth” plan, but some environmentalists said the strategy was a disappointing and complained about a lack of detail.
FT 12th Oct 2017 read more »
The UK Government has announced an ambitious new Clean Growth Strategy to drastically cut carbon emissions and combat climate change, including £557 million for the country’s third renewable energy Contracts for Difference auction set for spring of 2019. Wednesday saw the UK Government launch its new Clean Growth Strategy which sets out how to grow the national economy while simultaneously cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The UK wants to focus on supporting developing and creating new technologies and new businesses, helping to grow jobs and prosperity across the UK, while meeting the country’s national climate change targets. “This government has put clean growth at the heart of its Industrial Strategy to increase productivity, boost people’s earning power and ensure Britain continues to lead the world in efforts to tackle climate change,” said UK Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark. “For the first time in a generation, the British government is leading the way on taking decisions on new nuclear, rolling out smart meters and investing in low carbon innovation. The world is moving from being powered by polluting fossil fuels to clean energy. It’s as big a change as the move from the age of steam to the age of oil and Britain is showing the way.”
Clean Technica 12th Oct 2017 read more »
