Hard times for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc). The unprecedented intervention of a UN grandee this week over the government’s swingeing cuts to renewables subsidies is just the latest blow in a series of knocks to a department that is looking increasingly vulnerable. The UN’s chief environment scientist, professor Jacquie McGlade, broke international protocol when she publicly questioned the UK’s cuts in renewables subsidies, highlighting the country’s apparent shift away from clean energy just as the rest of the world moves towards it. You expect the industries affected to howl at the cuts, but this is something altogether more concerning, and suggests there could be red faces in the UK camp at the UN’s summit on climate change in Paris from 30 November.
Leader: Decc is skating on thin ice
