United Kingdom

The UK has committed to an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (on the 1990 baseline). This was enacted through the Climate Change Act 2008 and upon the advice of the independent Committee on Climate Change. In order to meet this commitment the UK Government is setting out five-year carbon budgets, the first of which were detailed in a Low Carbon Transition Plan paper produced in 2009 by the newly formed Department of Energy and Climate Change. The Department is currently developing a vision to 2050 which will be released in the New Year.

In order to ensure decarbonisation of electricity and heat supplies and meet the EU Renewables Target, the UK Government has introduced a series of policy instruments. The Renewables Obligation (RO) was introduced in 2002 to ensure electricity suppliers source an increasing proportion of electricity from renewable sources. Feed-in-Tariffs (FIT), to encourage uptake of small-scale, low carbon electricity generation measures, and a Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), to encourage renewable heat generation at all scales, were included in the Energy Act 2008 and are currently being developed for launch in 2010/11.

There will also be up to four Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) demonstration projects. Debate is currently underway as to whether the carbon price as set by the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is sufficient to enable the low carbon investments required for example in renewable energy, CCS and new nuclear.

New and smarter networks will be necessary to ensure low carbon generation technologies are connected up and performing to maximum efficiency, and to address the challenges of managing load balancing with potentially increased levels of intermittent renewables and inflexible nuclear on the grid. The UK Government, Ofgem (the energy regulator) and the energy industry have been considering ways to encourage a more anticipatory approach to investment in new energy infrastructure. The UK Government has also made a commitment to roll out smart meters by 2020 and is setting out a vision for smart grids in late 2009.

Obtaining planning consents, and in a timely fashion, remains critical to delivering low carbon supply and new energy infrastructure. The Planning Act 2008 included development of National Policy Statements (NPSs) and an Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) was established in October 2009 to make decisions on nationally significant infrastructure projects such as large wind farms and power stations.

In the Heat and Energy Saving Strategy consultation, the UK Government set out an aspiration for emissions from all homes to be close to zero by 2050. There is a requirement for new homes to be net zero carbon from 2016 and new non-domestic buildings from 2019. For existing buildings there is an obligation on energy suppliers to deliver energy saving measures to householders through the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) which was introduced in 2008 following on from the Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC). A new Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) was also set up in 2009 as an obligation on energy suppliers and generators to deliver ‘whole-house’ packages of measures to deprived neighbourhoods in partnership with local authorities and community groups.

In 2008 Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and Display Energy Certificates (DECs) were introduced, following the EU Energy Services Directive. There is also a new emissions trading scheme for medium sized organisations and businesses called the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) – Energy Efficiency Scheme which is scheduled to start in April 2010.

In addition to steps to reduce carbon emissions, the UK Government also has made a commitment eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010 and all homes by 2016. Under the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006 the Government is obliged to report annual progress in cutting the number of households living in fuel poverty. There are two main programmes designed to address fuel poverty through energy efficiency, Warm Front and a “Priority Group” target under CERT.

The UKBCSE has active programmes in all of the areas outlined above and works closely with the UK Government, opposition parties and other stakeholders to develop robust policies which cohere together. The Council has four main workstreams sustainable energy production, energy demand, planning and cross-industry communications. Examples of recent reports include:

- UKBCSE response to the Conservative Party’s low carbon economy paper
- UKBCSE/ERA response to DECC’s heat and energy saving strategy (HESS) consultation