Britain 2020 – renewable energy target

In 1997 the UK along with much of the rest of the world was concerned about the dangerous climate changes predicted by scientific experts. Prominent governments agreed on a pact to cut worldwide emissions in the Kyoto protocol.

By 2008 UK parliament voted through the Climate Change Act to ensure that by 2050 the net UK carbon account for Kyoto greenhouse gases was 80% lower than the 1990 baseline. This Act set legally binding targets with a framework to develop economically credible changes, including a target to produce 15% of energy from renewables by 2020.

During the general election campaign in 2010 the official party slogan for the Conservative party was “Vote blue, go green”. But earlier this year the Climate Change Committee, an independent organisation set up to monitor the Climate change Act of 2008, warned the government that the UK was not on track to meet its 2020 renewables target.

The government has not followed recommendations from the Climate Change Committee and plans to cut subsidies for onshore wind and solar power in a move that is set to further hamper the UKs chance to meet the Climate Change Act target. Conversely, the oil and gas industry is set to receive £1.5bn over the next 5 years, and the UK is hoping to develop an £18bn nuclear power station at Hinkley in a joint venture with the Chinese state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN).

Sustainable energy targets may be a contentious matter in the Conservative party. Indeed at the time the Climate Change Act was voted through parliament, when Labour were in office, the Conservative party were split over support for the act and only one fifth of its MPs took part in the vote, thus allowing cynics to abstain. However the 2010 party manifesto did support the Climate Change Act.

It is unclear how the government will steer the UK back on track to meet the targets, but it is not alone in its failure regarding emissions. Japans emissions are rising and Canada quit the Kyoto protocol altogether. But if the government fails to reach its target it is open to legal action. Earlier this year a group of activist lawyers from the organisation ClientEarth successfully sued the government for failing control of air pollution. So it could be vulnerable to a similar encounter over sustainable energy.

It is clear that as well as avoiding legal repercussions, the government needs to recover a favourable forecast for renewable energy by the time it meets with the governments of more than 190 countries in Paris in December for climate summit talks.