Government accepts Fifth Carbon Budget recommendations signalling ongoing decarbonisation of UK economy

Thu 30 June 2016 View all news

The Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has confirmed that the Government is accepting the Committee on Climate Change’s 5th Carbon Budget recommendations which cover the period 2028-2032. It confirms plans for a 57% reduction in emissions since 1990. The announcement has provided some much-needed certainty about the direction of policy for low carbon and related industries following the referendum vote for 'Brexit'. 

A piece of draft legislation ‘the Carbon Budget Order 2016’ has been put forward to enshrine the Fifth Carbon Budget in law. 

Speaking earlier in the week, the Energy and Climate Secretary said: “I want to underline our commitment to the issue over which I have primary responsibility; climate change” (Speech link.)

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has also published its 2016 Annual Progress Report to Parliament detailing the UK’s progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting carbon budgets.

The report shows that UK emissions have fallen by an average of 4.5% per year in the last three years and are 38% below 1990 levels. This reduction in emissions has come almost exclusively from one sector: electricity generation, where UK Government policies have driven an increase in renewable generation and a reduction in coal use.

The Committee points to the need for more rapid progress in the heating, transport and agriculture sectors. It says that policies are not in place to broaden the sources of emission reduction and its report identifies a gap of about 100 MtCO2e between current plans and the action required by the recommended Fifth Carbon Budget (covering emissions in the years 2028-2032). That gap is half of the required reduction from 2015, and could be larger if existing plans fail to fully deliver.

The Government has recognised this policy shortfall and has committed to produce an ‘emissions reduction plan’ later in 2016. The Progress Report sets out the following criteria for that plan:

  • New policy approaches are needed to decarbonise heating and improve energy efficiency, focusing on lower cost areas (e.g. new buildings) and overcoming behavioural barriers.
  • Policies should be extended through the 2020s to improve the efficiency of new vehicles and increase the uptake of low-emission vehicles.
  • Carbon capture and storage (CCS). A new approach to the development of CCS can advance this crucial technology at lower cost than previous plans, and is urgently required. The new approach should provide separate support for capture plants and for transport and storage infrastructure.
  • Mature low-carbon generation. The cheapest forms of low-carbon electricity generation (e.g. onshore wind and solar in locally-acceptable locations) should be provided with a route to market (e.g. new auctions for low-carbon contracts). Previous auctions were successful and excluding these technologies increases costs for UK consumers.

The CCC said that the referendum vote to leave the EU does not alter the need to reduce UK emissions. The carbon budgets and the 2050 target to reduce emissions by at least 80% compared to 1990 levels are set in UK legislation – the Climate Change Act (2008) – and are designed to represent the lowest-cost path for the UK to contribute to global efforts to tackle climate change. The Act also includes a legal requirement that the Government set out proposals and policies to meet the targets. These policies will need to reflect the UK’s changing relationship with the EU.

The acceptance of the CCC’s recommendations has been welcomed by the green sector as providing some much needed long term stability and committing the UK to a long term, ambitious decarbonisation pathway. 

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