In the run up to the general election,
what is on offer so far in terms of energy and climate policy from the
political parties? The Conservatives, in government, have had
a mixed record. In common with the other main parties, they supported the
expansion of the climate target from a 80% Green House Gas emission reduction
by 2050 to 100%- or at least to zero net
emissions by 2050. To get to that they have backed off-shore wind, plus some
large biomass conversion projects, while phasing out coal plants. But they have
also backed nuclear and blocked on-shore wind development, withdrawing access
to the Contracts for Difference support system and toughening up planning
rules. Same for large solar.
With Extinction Rebellion noisily demanding ‘zero carbon by 2025’, the Liberal Democrats proposed a
plan for cutting GHG emissions by 75% by 2030, with renewables supplying 80% of
electricity, and then moving fully to net zero carbon by 2045, with no use of new nuclear, beyond Hinkley. On
shore wind and solar PV would be fully reinstated, tidal power looked at more,
but large biomass plants would be opposed. Energy saving and local energy
projects were heavily backed: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/libdems/pages/46346/attachments/original/1564404765/139_-_Tackling_the_Climate_Emergency_web.pdf?1564404765
An outline plan produced for Labour looked to a 77% cut in GHG emissions by 2030, but retained 9GW
of nuclear- kept at that (current)
level with some new plants. Renewables were strongly backed, including on-shore
wind, with more wind & solar in place by 2030 (117 GW- 82GW of wind, 35GW
of PV) than in the Lib Dem plan (83 GW- 53GW of wind, 30GW of PV), though in the
latter plan, that rises to 149 GW by 2045 (92GW of wind, 52GW of PV).
Labour’s plan backed energy saving, aiming to reduce the need for energy across the UK by a minimum of 20% for
heat and a minimum of 11% for electricity, relative to current levels. Solar heating would account for 6% of total
heating, biogas heating 5%, but large scale district heating was downplayed,
except for networks using using waste heat/CHP. 3GW of tidal power was also
mentioned, along with support for 2.5 GW of carbon capture for heavy industry: https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ThirtyBy2030report.pdf
Labour’s outline plan suggested that ‘zero-carbon electricity could
potentially be anticipated as early as 2034-2040, and zero carbon heating
2036-2040,’ but it didn’t specify the supply mix. However, that
does beat the Lib Dems 2045 target date for net zero emissions. A bit of a
choice, and a race, then, with the Green Party coming up as an outsider
with a plan for a £100 bn a year
climate action programme, focussed on renewables and energy saving- and no
nuclear: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50305284 The SNP is similarly very
pro-renewables (in 2017 Scotland got 70% of its power from renewables and its
now near 75%) and it wants no new Scottish nuclear: https://www.scottishrenewables.com/forums/renewables-in-numbers/
We’ve
been here before…with more promises
The Lib Dems backed a non-nuclear future once before, but in its 2010-15
coalition with the Tories, it relented, while Labour too switched from
non-nuclear (when in opposition) to pro-nuclear (when in power earlier in the
2000s), earning this (ineffective!) reprimand: http://herbeppel.blogspot.com/2009/09/professor-david-elliot-open-university.html
Labour didn’t come off too well
this time around either, with some worrying that the new plan was just an
electro-fantasy plan, with gas much reduced and nuclear pushed, but its
locations misspelled/misplaced! http://drdavidlowry.blogspot.com/2019/10/nuking-labours-progressive-energy-policy.html
However, as the election timetable
moved on, we got more promises. The Tories had already
promised to back Electric Vehicles more, and then announced that there would be
£900m to support EV charging net work extensions and £490 m for other transport
investment. However, the government has also allocated £222m to nuclear fusion
research. It also imposed a moratorium of shale gas fracking- an option that
all the other parties have long since opposed. But the government rather
blunted the welcome but r maybe temporary fracking halt, by also backing a new
coal mine, and by a commitment to invest £800m in CCS
clusters – presumably to allow for the continued use of fossil fuel. Overall then, the Tories, unsurprisingly,
didn’t get too much backing from the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/17/scientists-and-climate-advisers-condemn-tory-environmental-record
Labour came out with a £30m Warm
Homes for All plan to install loft insulation, double glazing & renewable
technologies in almost all of the UK’s 27m homes. That’s on top of its already
announced plan to invest £6.2bn
from its proposed £250bn
national transformation fund in 37 new
offshore windfarms - 52GW by 2030. That contrasts with Boris
Johnson’s subsequent commitment to a ‘clean energy
revolution’ with UK offshore wind capacity raised to just 40 GW by 2030.
There was a bit of last moment reiterations of
Labours plans, with Barry Gardiner, Labour’s
shadow trade secretary, saying that the aim was to get the power sector ‘90% powered
by renewables by 2030’, rather than a commitment to zero
carbon across the board by then, which some saw as the original target that
Labour had agreed to work towards:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-climate-change-carbon-zero-emissions-general-election-a9206781.html
The Manifestos
However,
we had to wait for the Manifestoes to see what actually was promised. In the event, Labour settled on 90% of power
and 50% of heat from renewables & low carbon sources (which presumably includes
nuclear) by 2030: https://labour.org.uk/manifesto/a-green-industrial-revolution/ The Lib Dems stuck to 80% renewable electricity by 2030, and net zero Carbon by 2045: https://www.libdems.org.uk/plan The SNP too: www.snp.org/general-election-2019/ The Greens went for net zero carbon by 2030: https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/ The Tories stayed with 2050 – the
governments target: https://vote.conservatives.com/our-plan But they did say ‘we will use our £1 bn Ayrton Fund to develop affordable & accessible
clean energy that will improve lives & help us to lead the world in
tackling climate change’. And it mentioned 40GW of offshore wind. There will also be £9bn for energy efficiency in homes, schools and
hospitals, including £6.3 bn to improve the energy
efficiency of 2.2 million disadvantaged homes:
https://www.energylivenews.com/2019/11/22/greater-manchester-businesses-offered-energy-efficiency-funding/
The Tories noted
their support for nuclear, including fusion, but surprisingly, there was no
mention of nuclear by the Lib Dems, while Labour said ‘We will build new nuclear
power needed for energy security’, with no further
explanation. However, Labour did say that its Green New Deal aimed to achieve ‘the
substantial majority of our emissions reductions by 2030’, with
help from a share of the new £250 bn Green Transformation Fund- a big spend. It also
mentioned tidal power. And
its programme would, it was calculated, create 1 million green jobs: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/21/labour-manifesto-promises-1m-green-jobs-to-tackle-climate-crisis All of which got a fair degree of expert support: https://theconversation.com/does-labours-green-industrial-revolution-tackle-the-climate-crisis-experts-weigh-in-127542
During the Channel 4 debate
on the climate crisis, with Boris Johnson conspicuously absent, the party
leaders vied with each other offering better zero carbon targets dates than his
‘2050’, the greens leading the pack with their 2030 target. They and the SNP
also both dissed nuclear, but Corbyn said it had a role. Otherwise, although they differed on the
details, they all seemed to agree - we need more renewables, more trees- and
less flying and less meat!
A race to the polls
So
now it’s up to the voters. Few take election promises too seriously, but there
does seem to be an appetite for change in terms of energy policy. Public opinion polls suggest that renewables
are overwhelmingly popular (84% for, at the last BEIS count), nuclear and shale
gas fracking very much less so. It is interesting that business leaders seem to
have backed a position somewhere in between Labour and the Tories, but nearer
to the former, with the CBI backing nuclear and Carbon Capture, but also on-shore
wind: http://www.cbi.org.uk/media/3716/cbi-low-carbon-2020s-report-4-november-2019.pdf
Climate change has moved up the public and political
agenda a lot recently, with two thirds in a poll saying it was the most
important global issue and that 47% of
Conservative voters backed a zero-emissions target by 2030, as opposed to the
Tory governments 2050 target: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/07/majority-of-uk-public-back-2030-zero-carbon-target-poll However, with BREXIT still the leading issue for many voters, all bets
on who might win most seats in the election are still off! http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/general-election-latest-environment-climate-change-policies-poll-pollution-jeremy-corbyn-labour-a9206571.html
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