The government has hinted at further details for the scope of the ‘net zero’ emissions review Ministers are set to instruct the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) to carry out later this year. Last month Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry revealed the government is to ask the CCC to review whether the UK’s legally binding carbon targets are compatible with the Paris Agreement and in particular the goal to limit temperature increases to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. This week Perry provided the House of Commons with some more details on the remit for the imminent review, suggesting the government wanted “to understand how we will get to a zero-carbon economy in 2050”. In response to questions from Labour’s Shadow Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner about why the official mid-century decarbonisation plan the government submitted to the UN only covered the period through to the early 2030s, Perry said the UK was the first country in the world to review its carbon targets for 2050. Elsewhere during this week’s Business questions in parliament, Perry hailed the creation of 14,000 jobs in the offshore wind sector, insisted the government was continuing to discuss plans for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project with key stakeholders, and praised the fact the UK completed 77 hours of operation without coal generation last month. She also rejected accusations from the DUP’s Sammy Wilson that ending the UK’s reliance on coal power would damage the economy by “pursuing means of expensive energy”. “Does she really believe that erecting a few windmills will affect the world’s climate, which is determined by the sun and by natural forces beyond the control of man?” Wilson asked.
Business Green 4th May 2018 read more »
