The UK Climate Change Act was a world first. Now it is being subjected to a major test: the UK seeking to leave the EU, which governs a substantial proportion of UK emissions reduction policies. There will be substantial policy uncertainty during this phase, as well...
Category: UK
Overhauling UK energy – An ambitious new proposal for power, heat and industry
The deadline for UK coal phaseout is looming and the remaining 6GW of coal capacity on the grid must be replaced. Meanwhile, options for cutting emissions from the heat (gas) network have yet to make significant progress. In response to the National Infrastructure...
The UK’s carbon price is under threat
Sandbag’s new report shows the Carbon Price Support, a tax of £18 per tonne of CO2, has caused UK coal emissions to fall 66% this year. But now some industry voices are calling for the tax to be scrapped. Please help Sandbag persuade the government to keep the Carbon...
An £800m pay-out for diesel?
** Amended at 15:00 for "up to" 4.0GW of diesel; also at 20:00 to explain why we suspect undefined plant to be diesel. So, last Friday, National Grid told us who will be bidding for 15 year contracts to build new electricity capacity. The government wants to build new...
How has the referendum result impacted the UK's electricity transition?
There has been some evidence that the UK’s energy transition will continue largely unchanged, but – unsurprisingly – there is some uncertainty. On Wednesday, both energy and climate ministers – Amber Rudd and Andrea Leadsom – made...
The UK can lead the climate effort
The UK’s future relationship with the EU is highly uncertain. Investors need certainty and so does the climate. The fifth carbon budget laid in Parliament today needs to be debated and adopted as soon as possible. Amber Rudd, the UK Secretary of State for Energy and...
We must close the loopholes in Britain's carbon budget
This piece is reprinted from a piece written for The Guardian. Please folow this link for original This is our opportunity to fix the accounting rules and keep national emissions within UK carbon budgets Last month the government made a landmark decision to...
We must close the loopholes in Britain's carbon budget
This piece is reprinted from a piece written for The Guardian. Please folow this link for original This is our opportunity to fix the accounting rules and keep national emissions within UK carbon budgets Last month the government made a landmark decision to reduce the...
UK targets Net Zero emissions, but carbon accounting flaws remain
Last night, the government agreed to a new long-term target of net zero emissions, making the UK government the first to nationally implement the global netzero goal enshrined in the Paris Agreemeent. On the same night, however, a vote to close an accounting loophole...
What's happening to the Green Investment Bank?
The government’s plans to sell-off the Green Investment Bank (GIB) have recently made headlines. That the government wants to privatise the bank is hardly shocking – when it was designed in 2011, the then-coalition government was clear that it...