Al Gore slams UK government for recent renewables cuts

Former US vice president Al Gore has slammed the UK government for its recent spate of cuts to renewables subsidies, saying he finds the decisions “puzzling”.

In an impassioned speech at a climate change event in London, Gore said he was “puzzled” that, since being elected, the Conservative government has seemingly gone back on renewables commitments it made during its campaign.

He continued, saying that mutual friends of David Cameron had assured him that the prime minister still believes these commitments, but doesn’t have any ability to take control of the decisions. “I don’t believe that,” said Gore.

“I know that there will be a speech next week,” he said. “Words, words. What about actions? The actions that have been taken here in the last few months are puzzling to me.”

Since being elected the self-proclaimed greenest government ever has cut a host of financial support for renewable energy.

In June, the department of energy and climate change (Decc) it said it would scrap the Renewables Obligation support for onshore wind a year earlier than planned. The Department has also threatened to scrap the Feed-in Tariff and end subsidies for biomass and small solar projects, and implement measures to fast-track fracking.

Additionally, the chancellor has removed the renewable generation exemption to the Climate Change Levy, insisting the government has a “long term framework for investment in renewable energy in place”.

In December this year, 196 countries will meet at the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21), otherwise known as Paris 2015, to sign a new international climate change agreement, applicable to all countries, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C. Ahead of this conference “we must change, and we can change”, Gore said.