Barry Gardiner MP If It Matters To You, Then It Matters To Him
The Climate Change Committee has highlighted the huge cost increase for the UK to decarbonise without CCS..
THE COST TO MEET UK CLIMATE TARGETS BY 2050 WOULD DOUBLE WITHOUT CCS
Climate Change Committee leaves 5th carbon budget unchanged after Paris, but highlights weak points of energy policy
Barry Gardiner MP, Shadow Minister of Energy and Climate Change responds:
“The Climate Change Committee’s letter today makes clear the cost of meeting our legally binding targets would double without carbon capture and storage technology. If the government really had wanted to protect bill payers the Chancellor would not have cancelled the UK’s CCS programme. The Committee’s recommendations highlight the perversity of current government energy policy. We need to increase funding for low-carbon electricity, instead of slashing subsidies for the least expensive form of low carbon generation like onshore wind, whilst giving £175m to polluting diesel plants.”
Notes to editors:
The Climate Change Committee wrote to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Amber Rudd, on the implications of the Paris Climate Agreement for the fifth UK carbon budget. The Committee repeated its recommendation that the 5th carbon budget be legislated at 1,765MtCO2e, a 57% cut to the UK’s net carbon account.
The Committee noted that ambitions could be increased in future, in line with increased EU targets, tightening of the EU ETS cap, or new evidence – for example, the 1.5C report expected from the IPCC.
The Committee emphasised the need for: extending funding from the Levy Control Framework beyond 2020 to bring on more low-carbon power; a CCS strategy that adds up; addressing the UK’s building stock; supporting electric vehicles; and a long term view for national infrastructure.