Our energy future - renewables vs nukes?

Greenpeace welcomes the fact that the Government is reviewing energy policy. Current energy trends are unsustainable: greenhouse gas emissions and radioactive waste are leaving enormous burdens for future generations to deal with. The fifty year time-scale identified by the Government makes possible a visionary and bold approach which no previous energy review in the UK has achieved.

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) has said that the UK should reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 60% by 2050. This sounds an ambitious target, but is in fact the bare minimum the UK needs to do to contribute to the global fight against climate change. The RCEP proposal is predicated on the need to stabilise atmospheric concentrations at 550 ppmv carbon dioxide equivalent, which would eventually produce a temperature increase of at least 3 degrees C. Greenpeace has published research suggesting the need to stabilise CO2 concentrations at 350 ppmv in order to limit global average temperature increases to 1 degree C. The EU has proposed that temperature increases should not be allowed to exceed 2 degrees C and concluded that CO2 concentrations should be kept below 550 ppmv. It is clear from both the wording of the decision and from the science that this is an extreme upper boundary.