Archived press release

Major boost in UK renewables needed to meet EU target

23 January 2008

• UK Energy Bill must be strengthened to exploit huge renewable potential

• EU climate targets weaker than UN climate agreement in Bali

• Biofuel plans are social and environmental threat

The UK Government must give a massive boost to its support for renewable power if Britain is to play its part in tackling climate change and meet EU targets for green energy [1], Friends of the Earth warned today. Despite having one of the best potentials for wind, wave and tidal power in Europe, Britain sits near the bottom of the EU renewable energy league table.

The environmental campaign group welcomed EU aspirations to lead the world in tackling climate change, but says that the EU target for cutting emissions announced today [2] is far too weak and that its climate plans must be strengthened [3].

But Britain's current plans to develop renewable energy - outlined in the Government's Energy Bill - fall well short of what is required to meet its share of the EU renewable target. Despite pledging to triple the amount of electricity generated from renewables by 2015, this is still less than half of what Britain should be aiming for from the electricity sector if it is to meet its EU target.

Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper said:

“Renewable energy has a huge role to play in tackling climate change, but Britain's support for green power has been woeful. We have the potential to be a world leader in clean renewable, but we currently have one of the worst records in Europe for developing this technology. Only Malta and Luxemburg have worse renewable records. The UK has a mountain to climb if it is to plays its part in meeting the EU renewable target. This is why it must strengthen its Energy Bill and help make Britain a world leader in developing a low carbon economy.

“The Government must revolutionise its support for renewables. We need policies that meet the scale of the challenge, including a far stronger target for large-scale renewables and generous, guaranteed payments to householders, communities and businesses that generate their own energy from solar panels and wind turbines.”

The environmental campaign group said that the target should be met by developing UK renewables - and not by `buying in' renewable energy credits from overseas.

Commenting on the EU announcement, Tony Juniper said:

“The EU aims to cut EU emissions by a fifth by 2020. But this is far less than the target agreed at last month's UN climate summit in Bali, and undermines EU ambitions to be a world leader in tackling global warming. The solutions to climate change exist. What we lack is the political ambition.”

Friends of the Earth also called for targets for 10 per cent to the EU's transport fuel to come from biofuels by 2020 to be scrapped. Biofuels have, at best, uncertain climate benefits and their production is threatening forests, peatlands, other wildlife habitats and undermining people's rights

Friends of the Earth briefing (PDF† )

Notes

• Friends of the Earth is calling on the UK Government to amend its Energy White Paper:

• Set a more ambitious target for developing renewable energy. The UK's target for increasing renewable falls a long way short of what the UK is expected to be asked to deliver as part of the EU renewable strategy.

• Give smaller scale renewable electricity producers (such as households, businesses and communities who invest in producing their own renewable electricity from, for example, solar panels or wind turbines) a long-term guaranteed premium price for the electricity they generate. This is known as a `feed-in tariff', and operates successfully in many European countries, particularly Germany.

• Reform the Government's gas and electricity regulator, Ofgem so that its primary purpose is carbon emissions reduction and protection of consumers

• Legislate to give renewable electricity generators priority access to feed their power into the National Grid.

www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefing_notes/feedin_tariff.pdf (PDF† )

The Government should also strengthen the Climate Change Bill. The Bill, which Friends of the Earth has led the campaign for, should aim to cut UK emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, and include Britain's share of international shipping and aviation emissions.

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/ ¬
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The EU climate and energy plans announced today have a number of flaws:

• The target for cutting emissions is too weak. The EU target of a 20% cut in greenhouse gases by 2020 is in violation of the UN Climate agreement signed in Bali last month. This recognised that developed countries are required to reduce emissions by 25-40% by 2020 in order to avoid dangerous climate change.

• It allows Member States to buy in “green credits” from projects outside the EU as a way of meeting their greenhouse gas emissions targets. EU member states should be required develop domestic low-carbon economies. Rather than buying their way out of taking action.

• It encourages a huge expansion in damaging biofuels as part of the EU drive for an increase in renewables. The EU says that 10 per cent of traffic fuel should come from biofuels by 2020. But there are increasing warnings about the social and environmental impacts of biofuels and their climate benefits are uncertain. The EU should remove the biofuels targets from the Directive.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust