Government should aim to decarbonise power grid by 2035

The government should commit to the near complete decarbonisation of the power grid by 2035 in order to give the UK a chance of hitting its 2050 net zero target, the first head of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has argued.

At an online media briefing organised by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) yesterday, Lord Turner said it is crucial that the UK comes forward with a “stretching commitment” to cut emissions in the 2020s when it publishes its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

He said the NDC, which must be produced by every government signed up to the Paris climate change agreement, should contain a commitment to cut UK emissions to around 68 per cent of 1990 levels by 2030.

This compares to the UK’s existing target of 61 per cent. According to press reports last night, the government is due to announce a new target of 69 per cent as soon as today after Boris Johnson said at prime minister’s question time yesterday that the NDC will be “extremely ambitious”.

Lord Turner, who was the first chair of the CCC when it was set up in the late noughties, told the ECIU briefing that rapid decarbonisation of the electricity system is required across the world.

He said: “There is no way to a zero-carbon economy that doesn’t involve deep electrification of our economies. When the UK comes out with its sixth carbon budget, look for a commitment for almost decarbonisation of the electricity system by 2035.

“Unless you get as a developed economy to almost decarbonisation of the electricity system by 2035, you won’t be on path to zero carbon by 2050.

“New electricity generation in developed economies should be zero carbon. We need this sort of target to force the acceleration of pace that will get us there.

“What is said in the NDCs, which have a time scale out to 2030, is absolutely crucial because it lays out the path to 2050.

“It is crucially important that the developed world is putting in place very stretching commitments for the 2020s; commitments that will force us to develop technologies that will then make it easier for the rest of the world to decarbonise.

“We need this sort of target to force the acceleration of the sheer pace of gigawatts per annum that will get us there.”

Lord Turner, who now chairs the Energy Transition Commission, said that stretching targets would also enable the developed world to show political leadership on the decarbonisation of electricity.

He said that a commitment by European countries to green hydrogen could reduce its cost to $2/kg, which could be “transformational for the whole world.”

Turner said nuclear has a continued role to play in decarbonising electricity but only if it is rolled out at scale, like China is currently doing, and not if it is developed piecemeal as is happening in the UK. The former CBI director-general said: “It is not as cheap as wind and solar but is an important part of balancing the system where the majority comes from renewables.”

At the same event, former energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd called for Sharma to be replaced as COP26 president because he doesn’t have enough time to perform the role on top of his other duties at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which is also dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s an extraordinary ask of Alok Sharma to think that he can put in work to make COP a success. I recognise the absurdity of potentially changing COP president but if not now, when.”

Rudd said the dismissal of Sharma’s predecessor Claire O’Neill, who she described as an “inspirational choice”, had been “very sad”.

She said that O’Neill, formerly known by her former married name of Perry, had convinced the cabinet that the summit would be an important opportunity for the UK to demonstrate is continued ability to play an important international role.

“The Treasury opposed it at the time and she won them over. It is disappointing that she was not able to continue that,” said Rudd, adding a warning that the government’s decision in last week’s spending review to cut the overseas budget would undermine its climate diplomacy efforts.

She said that the apparently “high handed” decision had undermined trust in developing countries that the UK is taking “seriously enough its responsibility” as COP host next year.

But Rudd said the prime minister’s 10-point green recovery plan, announced a fortnight ago, is “great news” but expressed concern about whether the Treasury is fully signed up to the initiative.

“We shouldn’t underestimate the significance of the prime minister making such a significant priority of this. It’s good news that the PM is making this such a priority and making it part of his defining action.

“A lot more information is needed and it is disappointing that Rishi Sunak’s statement didn’t mention climate change or the wider green agenda so I’m not sure whether there is a wholly joined up commitment.”