Archived press release

Energy White Paper Briefing

21 February 2003

Why a white paper?

In 2000 The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) published a report on climate change, saying that the UK needs to cut emissions of carbon dioxide by 60 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050.

The Energy White Paper, expected next Tuesday (25^th Feb), is the Government's response to that report. The Government is also concerned about the security of the UK's energy supplies given that our reserves of gas and oil are declining and could expire within the next 25 years. By 2010 we will be a net importer of fuels for the first time since the Industrial Revolution.

The White Paper will therefore set out Government thinking on how to achieve a low carbon economy while at the same time ensuring that the lights stay on and our economy is not damaged by the shock of rapidly rising energy prices.

What it will say:

• The Royal Commission's target to cut CO2 emissions by 60 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050 should be a central objective of energy policy.

• The Government's preferred strategy for reducing emissions will be by reducing demand for energy (by improving energy efficiency) and by deploying renewable energy technologies.

• Existing barriers to the deployment of renewable energy - for example in planning - should be reduced.

• New measures will be announced reduce demand for energy in both the domestic and commercial sectors.

• The power sector will soon be forced to pay a price for carbon emissions through the European Emissions Trading Scheme (which will introduce a cap on emissions of carbon dioxide from power stations from 2005 onwards). This will tend, for example, to increase the cost of coal relative to other energy sources.

• Coal fired generation will continue to play an important role and that there will be increased investment in research into the potential for capturing and storing CO2.

It will not:

• Rig the market in favour of nuclear or provide significant new incentives to build new nuclear power plants, despite intensive lobbying by the nuclear industry.

• Introduce new measures to cut emissions from road vehicles beyond those in the Powering Future Vehicles strategy published in July 2002.

• Take steps to cut rising emissions from aviation, which are excluded from the Government's Kyoto obligation and which would reduce its effect by 30-50 per cent.

Friends of the Earth's position

On nuclear power

The White Paper is expected to herald a sea-change in Government thinking on energy policy. The acceptance that greenhouse gas emissions must be cut and that energy policy must deliver this is crucial. The decision to back renewables and increased energy efficiency rather than nuclear power is extremely welcome and represents a victory for common sense.

2003 is the 30^th anniversary of the Friends of the Earth anti-nuclear campaign. Friends of the Earth bitterly opposed the last nuclear reactor to be built in the UK - Sizewell B - but was unsuccessful. Since then we have successfully opposed the building of Hinckley C - the last serious proposal from the industry. In recent years we have also opposed the industry's claims that nuclear power is the only proven solution to climate change.

In July 2002 a Friends of the Earth report entitled `Tackling Climate Change Without Nuclear Power' demonstrated that alternatives were available. The collapse of British Energy (predicted in a report Friends of the Earth funded in 1997) and the overwhelming evidence that the public does not want nuclear power have all served to seal the industry's fate. The White Paper will represent a decisive defeat for the nuclear lobby, which has supporters in Government including Energy Minister Brian Wilson, and, in the past, Prime Minister Tony Blair.

On renewables

The UK is a long way behind other European countries in terms of our exploitation of natural renewable energy resources.

The Government has intervened in the market to provide support for renewables through the Renewables Obligation, introduced in 2002. This requires electricity suppliers to buy a proportion of their electricity from renewable sources. The Obligation is intended to ensure that 10% of our electricity is generated from renewables by 2010. It is "technologically blind" and will therefore encourage the cheapest renewables available. At the moment this is proving to be wind power, but biomass and wave and tidal power may be become more economic in future. A review of policy is expected in 2005.

The White Paper was expected to include a commitment to generate 20% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Disappointingly, this is believed to have been dropped from the final version of the White Paper, probably after objections from the Treasury.

Friends of the Earth hopes that the White Paper will provide yet more evidence that the Government is serious about making renewables work and that it will remove barriers that currently prevent further deployment.

On energy efficiency

Improving the efficiency with which we use fuels and electricity is an important way of reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases. We currently waste huge amounts of energy - for example our building regulations are amongst the weakest in Europe. Friends of the Earth is delighted that the Government has recognised that more needs to be done to encourage efficient energy use. Now we need specific measures to deliver on this objective. At present energy prices are low, which discourages actions to reduce use. The Government must internalise the environmental and other social costs of different energy sources, and allow prices to rise over time. Concerns about fuel poverty should be addressed through separate targeted initiatives.

On fossil fuels

Virtually all the UK's emissions savings to date have been made by switching from coal to gas as our primary fuel for electricity. However, the dash for gas in the 90's has been reversed in recent years, as coal is currently the cheaper fuel. Our coal power stations generate between two and three times more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity than modern gas fired stations. Coal use must be reduced if we are going to meet our climate change targets. The EU emissions trading scheme offers one way of internalising the cost of carbon and hence of ensuring that we reduce coal use.

Large scale capture and storage of CO2 is still unproven and is a long way from being commercially available for all but the most specialised of uses (eg on oil rigs where CO2 is pumped underground to increase the ease with which fossil fuels can be recovered.) The danger of putting too many resources into capture and storage is that it may simply replace nuclear power as the energy sector's white elephant - consuming large amounts of public money for little gain.

On transport

It is understood that the White Paper offers little that is new in the field of transport policy. The Government published `Powering Future Vehicles' in July 2002 which Friends of the Earth generally supported, although it lacked ambition. Emissions from transport will soon outstrip emissions from the electricity sector and more must be done to increase fuel efficiency, exploit renewable fuels and encourage alternatives to the car and lorry. Government should introduce an increased fuel duty cut for bioethanol in the next budget.

The rapid growth of aviation represents a serious long term threat to the low carbon policy, as technological options for reducing emissions are limited. Policy should focus on making airlines pay the full cost of their environmental impacts, through an aviation fuel tax (agreed at European level) and by promoting alternatives such as teleconferencing and rail.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust