Climate Change Committee says 'step change' in pace of greenhouse emissions reduction is needed
Fri 16 July 2010
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The Committee on Climate Change said today that a step change in the pace of underlying emissions reductions is still required if the UK is to meet its legislated carbon budgets - which require at least a 34% cut in emissions by 2020 relative to 1990 levels.
The conclusions are set out in the Committee’s 2nd progress report to Parliament. Emissions of greenhouse gases have declined over the past year (by 8.6%), but this is almost entirely due to a reduction in economic activity caused by the recession and increased fossil fuel/ energy prices, and is not the result of the implementation of measures to reduce emissions. As the economy returns to growth, the risk is that emissions will increase, and that carbon budgets will not be achieved.
Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, Lord Adair Turner said: “The recession has created the illusion that progress is being made to reduce emissions. Although emissions have declined substantially, our analysis shows that this is almost wholly due to a reduction in economic activity and not from new measures being introduced to tackle climate change.
"So we are repeating our call for new policy approaches to drive the required step change, in order that the UK can ensure a low-carbon recovery.
“Given new approaches, we are confident that individuals and business will respond, taking advantage of the affordable opportunities available to reduce emissions”.
The Committee advised that the UK should protect funding for a suite of low-carbon technologies, which if developed here, will help to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050, whilst also providing the basis for green economic growth in the longer term.
Without government support, a range of essential low-carbon technologies are likely to get stuck in a so-called ‘valley of death’, where development is curtailed, and will fail to make it to market. New low-carbon technologies will be vital in generating cleaner forms of electricity, which can then be used for electric vehicles and heating, and in delivering energy efficient buildings, areas which will make a very significant contribution to meeting the 2050 target to reduce emissions by 80% relative to 1990 levels.
The Committee conclude that any reduction in current funding levels (£550m per year) would increase the risk of missing carbon budgets and would see the UK losing out on critical opportunities to build a green economy. Once financial pressures have eased, increased funding will be required in specific cases (such as marine technologies and electric vehicles), and for low-carbon innovation more generally, over the next decade.
The UK’s spending on energy Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) as a per cent of GDP lags behind other developed countries. This situation is even more worrying in the context of global investment in technology development that is low relative to benchmarks proposed by the Stern Review, the International Energy Agency, and the EU.
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