Gordon Brown's low-carbon nation speech: Greenpeace reaction

Reacting to Gordon Brown's speech outlining his vision to make Britain a low carbon nation, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:

"Brown now appears to be serious about meeting the binding EU renewables targets. But more debate won't get us there. Action is what counts, not words. No investment will take place off the back of a speech alone.

"We can meet ambitious renewable energy targets if Britain deploys all the industrial innovation and determination for which our country was once famous. We need to find, fund and fast-track the Brunels of the 21st century. This will mean a joint effort from private sector and government, and a renewable industrial policy for Britain."

He added: "There will need to be a house-clearing in some Whitehall departments, where too many officials have blocked progress on renewables and energy efficiency for too long. Ministers will need to support policies that will propel Britain from the bottom to the top of the renewable energy league table. We need to follow the example of countries like Germany in developing the cutting edge technologies that can beat climate change. If we succeed the benefits for the economy and jobs will be enormous."

In the keynote speech delivered today, Gordon Brown re-committed Britain to the European target to generate 20 per cent of energy (for heat, transport and electricity) from renewable sources by 2020. Reports last month suggested the government was on the verge of dropping the target. Most of Britain's contribution to Europe's 20 per cent renewable energy target will be delivered as electricity. Heat and transport will be more limited in the UK.

The European 20 per cent target will translate into roughly 15 per cent total energy for the UK, which will require around 40 per cent of renewable electricity to be delivered. Other EU countries will have different targets depending on their energy mix, but collectively targets across the EU will amount to 20 per cent.

There are a number of areas the government should prioritise:

1. We need a scale of delivery to rival that of Germany - and crucially one that supports every renewable technology, not only wind power. In 2006 Germany had ten times the UK's installed wind capacity, was using twenty times as much biomass fuel and had installed three hundred times as much solar power.
2. Strong long term incentives to develop renewables. In Germany there is a guaranteed price paid for renewable power that has had a remarkable effect, revolutionising the German electricity sector. It costs each household just £1 a month, but has helped Germany create 250,000 green collar jobs and put the country at the forefront of new renewables development. In comparison the UK has less than 25,000 renewables jobs.
3. We need a step change in UK manufacturing and supply of renewable energy technology. The UK's rivals are nurturing green collar jobs by ensuring that new renewable technologies are researched, developed and manufactured domestically. Why not Britain?
4. On energy efficiency we need to make the task of delivering a high proportion of renewable energy easier, by reducing the amount of energy we need in the first place. Aggressive measures like tough energy efficiency standards for all appliances would be a start.
5. The government must address the massive waste in the energy supply system and urgently address the challenge of providing heat. UK power stations throw away 2/3 of the energy they generate as 'waste' heat - for example in their cooling towers. Denmark has developed ultra-efficient power stations that use that heat. We need to deploy them here.
6. The government must urgently reform the planning system so that it fast-tracks sustainable, low carbon projects rather than airports and new road building programmes. At present there is nearly five times as much wind power capacity stuck in the UK planning system as has been delivered on the ground.
7. It's currently easier to build an airport than an offshore wind farm. It's crucial that much more of the UK's sea is opened up for clean energy. Brown should instruct the MoD to stop blocking offshore wind proposals. Defence chiefs have scuppered a huge number of off-shore and on-shore wind schemes.
8. Block plans for new coal-fired power stations. A proposal for a new station at Kingsnorth will land on Brown's desk on Thursday that would pump out 20,000 tonnes of CO2 every day for forty years. If he's serious about making the transition to a low carbon economy, he'll block the scheme. The Prime Minister's first big test comes this week.
9. Drop plans for new nuclear power stations. Even the government accepts renewables and nuclear stations are in conflict, and threaten to ‘squeeze out' each other as leaked documents revealed. An ambitious renewables target can only be met by abandoning the fixation with new nuclear reactors, which would only provide 4 per cent of Britain's energy sometime after 2020.

Background:

In March this year, Tony Blair agreed that the UK would adopt a binding EU commitment which required 20 per cent of Europe's energy to be generated from renewable sources by 2020.

Blair said at the time that Europe had embarked on "a bold and very ambitious programme on climate change". He went on to say that the EU now had "a clear leadership position on this crucial issue facing the world."

On October 23rd the Guardian newspaper printed excerpts from a leaked document which revealed that Gordon Brown was to be advised that this target would be expensive but attainable.

The paper claimed that John Hutton, the secretary of state for business, had prepared a presentation to deliver to Brown which would urge that the PM "help persuade" German chancellor Angela Merkel and others to weaken renewable targets before binding commitments are framed in December. The document states that the 20 per cent target is attainable but it would undermine prospects for nuclear power.

The document also admitted that persuading the EU to allow Britain to miss the target would be "very hard to negotiate... and will be very controversial" before conceding that such a move would incur "a potentially significant cost in terms of reduced climate change leadership".

Brown responded by recommitting the UK to the target, telling the House of Commons on 24th October, "We are also absolutely committed to the European 20 per cent renewables target". He went on to say, "I do not hide from the House the difficult decisions that will have to be made about how we reach our targets on renewables. People will have to face up ... to the need to use wind turbines both on land and on sea."

(1) www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=71631

(2) ec.europa.eu/energy/energy_policy/doc/2007_03_02_energy_leaflet_en.pdf

(3) news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6433503.stm

(4) www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/oct/23/renewableenergy.energy

(5) www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-10-24a.280.3

ENDS

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