Ed Davey, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, today published the Energy Bill, touted as a once-in-a-generation transformation of our energy infrastructure, promising that it will be ‘good for the planet’.
This is an important reminder that even in these tough times, we still need to invest in new green energy infrastructure for the benefit of the planet as well as our economy. The stakes couldn’t be higher – Climate change threatens to drive extinctions across the world, and this year’s extreme weather at home and abroad is a stark reminder of the implications for people and wildlife of unbridled climate change.
Sadly, this claim would be considerably more credible if the Government’s bill had introduced a clear commitment to near-zero carbon electricity by 2030. Without this, the UK’s nascent renewable energy industry continues to operate with considerable uncertainty that has been fuelled by high-profile rows within the coalition about the role of renewable energy versus fossil fuels.
The second omission in the Bill is decisive action to prevent funds for renewables being swallowed up by coal power plants that convert over to burning wood.
Earlier this month, the RSPB, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace published a report that revealed that current plans would lead to the UK burning its way through the equivalent of six times the country’s total wood production each year by 2017. The report also used Government’s own data to show that this would be worse for the climate than burning coal.
In spite of these gaping holes in the Bill, we’re encouraged by the growing support within all political parties to secure a ‘decarbonisation’ target and do something about the environmental disaster that unsustainable biomass plans will cause. That’s why the RSPB will be working hard over the next year to get the Bill amended so that it really is good for planet.