Timid Energy Review fails to count
The Government’s lack of decisive action in the Energy Review published today should come as no surprise given its generally poor record on tackling climate change, says The Woodland Trust.
The Trust has been urging the Government to act immediately to slash UK emissions to tackle climate change, which is the greatest threat to ancient woodland. Earlier this year campaigning was stepped up after it emerged the UK would even fail to meet its own self-imposed target to reduce greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by 2010.(1)
But despite taking some positive steps like investing more in energy efficiency and limited investment in renewable power supplies, the Government has today again failed to tackle the big polluters like aviation or to deliver a carbon budget.
Head of campaigns Ed Pomfret said: “The Government’s continued slapdash approach to its environmental obligations has left the UK facing a worrying future.
“The UK needs to act decisively on climate change now, deliver a ‘carbon budget’ immediately and take steps to control the big greenhouse gas polluters like aviation. The review has also failed to recognise the true value of biomass as a medium term solution to the energy question which could provide win-win benefits in terms of carbon reductions and potentially wide scale benefits for biodiversity provided the right checks and balances are in place.
“Today’s announcement contains some modest proposals like creating an Office of Climate Change, but the Government needs to act quicker and must go much further to make any real difference. We need action now to ensure that over the next 50 years we see a big growth in renewables and genuine cut-backs in fossil fuel emissions. Our natural environment deserves clearer determined leadership, ambition and individual responsibility from the very top and the Energy Review has failed to deliver.
"The statement that the Government will "study the merits of carbon budgeting" means that we have not moved on at all since last March when the Climate Change Programme committed to "consider" proposals for a carbon budget.(2) This is exactly the sort of dithering that we can do without.”
The Woodland Trust wants the Government to commit to:
* Introducing a deliverable ‘carbon budget’ - the Review has failed to make any progress on this although the proposed development of an Office of Climate Change is a welcome step forward.
* Action on reaching a 60 per cent, or greater, cut in emissions by 2050 –the limited scope of energy efficiency and renewables investment provide no guarantee that this will be met.
* A greater profile given to the role of biomass and renewable energy sources – the review does recognise that biomass has a role to play but is weak in terms of commitments to unleash its potential.
* Reducing the impact of big polluters like aviation.
* A national planning policy statement on climate change - the Review confirmed that this is going ahead, although it had already been announced previously.
* Sympathetic infrastructure development that doesn't destroy ancient woodland - the proposed powerline through central Scotland is currently threatening over 80 ancient woodland sites. A more distributed power model would reduce the need for this.
Sources:
(1) In the UK Climate Change Programme admitted that the UK would miss its self imposed target of a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020.
(2) UK Climate Change Programme committed Nick Stern to consider proposals for a carbon budget and stated that this would feed into the Energy Review (p31)
