How declining economic growth benefits the environment
More bad news for David Cameron’s “greenest government ever”. It turns out the recession has had more to do with reducing greenhouse gas emissions than its environmental policies.
The revelation comes from the government’s own climate change advisers, who are warning against a second “dash for gas” to solve our energy woes.
Emissions of planet-warming gasses like carbon dioxide fell by 7 per cent in 2011, but only a 0.8 per cent reduction can be attributed to climate change policies encouraging things like loft insulation or renewable energy.
Instead, it was a mild winter, increasing fuel costs and falling incomes that led to lower consumption of fossil fuels and therefore lower levels of emissions overall.
Current progress is only a quarter of what is needed to meet legally-binding climate change targets set out under the Climate Change Act. If the economy does pick up, it would be at the expense of the environment.
“As the economy recovers it will be difficult to keep the country on track to meet carbon budgets (targets). We need to tackle major challenges to drive emissions down across the economy – and to do this as a matter of urgency,” said David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change.
The committee, which was created by the 2008 act of parliament, also warned against the lack of investment in low-carbon power like offshore wind. So far there has only been a third of the investment required by the end of the decade to get emissions to where they are supposed to be.
Dash for gas
The government, it warned, must “rule out a second dash for gas”. George Osborne’s budget included several measures to favour the construction of gas-fired power plants in the UK as older coal-fired and nuclear plants go offline. While burning gas produces a lot less planet-warming carbon dioxide than coal it is still a step too far in the wrong direction, according to the committee.
It was a dash for gas in the 1990s that reduced the UK’s carbon emissions to less than that of many of our European neighbours. It gave us a head start in Europe-wide emissions reduction schemes, but in the long run sticking with gas could cost us more.
“Investing in low-carbon assets remains a priority – this will put us on the economically sensible path, and allow us to avoid higher costs and risks due to delayed action,” said Mr Kennedy.
Carbon emissions
The report puts pressure on Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey. In March, he took some of the credit for the 7 per cent reduction on carbon emissions, saying: “This is more evidence of how the UK is leading the way in the fight against climate change. Carbon emissions are down, homes are more energy efficient and low carbon power is up.”
Less so now: the reductions are being attributed to the British weather, and our even more dire economy. In a statement from the Department of Energy and Climate Change today, he said: “The report confirms that we have very big challenges to face up to and highlights key areas where we need to raise our game to ensure that we meet our ambitious energy and climate change goals.”
The government is banking on two major policies to help it meet its targets. The “green deal” is designed to encourage home owners to save energy and the forthcoming energy bill will include measures to encourage low-carbon electricity generation.
Campaigners argue neither policies will do enough to reduce emissions. “Without urgent attention – and a much clearer commitment from the Prime Minister down – the claim to be the greenest government ever is looking like an increasingly empty boast,” said Keith Allot, head of climate change at WWF-UK.