MPs back fifth carbon budget and power sector target

The Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC) has called on ministers to adopt the fifth carbon budget, and set a power sector carbon intensity target of 100 gCO2/kWh by 2030 to help achieve it.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) published its advice on the level for the fifth carbon budget in November 2015, recommending that the budget should be set at 1,765 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, including international shipping emissions.

The ECCC has backed its recommendations for the period 2028-32, which also include working with international partners to secure an agreed mechanism for controlling aviation emissions and looking at further carbon reductions following the recent commitments made at the United Nation’s 2015 climate change conference in Paris. 

ECCC chair Angus MacNeil said: “We can see no basis for downgrading the UK’s ambition to reduce emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. Indeed, to meet targets agreed at the Paris climate talks to keep temperature rises below 1.5 degrees, we may in the future need to cut emissions deeper and faster.

“The UK can’t afford any further delays when it comes to replacing dirty power stations with cleaner forms of generation. Investors need certainty and setting a decarbonisation target for the electricity sector would signal the Government’s commitment to phasing out fossil fuels.”

The report also urges the government to provide clarity on the budget available under the Levy Control Framework for the deployment of renewable technologies post-2020, which the Renewable Energy Association (REA) echoes.

REA head of policy and external affairs James Court said: “Carbon budgets are essential for navigating Britain’s decarbonisation and in restoring the investor confidence that has been shattered by recent government actions.

“The REA supports the recommendations of the select committee and of the CCC, while encouraging government to support the use of a widest range of sustainable energy technologies…including those cost-effective technologies which this government have made drastic moves against, such as solar, onshore wind and biomass.”  

The fifth carbon budget will come into force after 2027, with its final levels to be agreed by ministers by the end of June. There are already concerns within the industry about whether adequate policies are in place to meet the emissions reductions required by the fourth carbon budget.

The Climate Change Act commits the UK to reducing carbon emissions by at least 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. To meet this target, the UK Government sets carbon budgets, or caps in emissions, for each five-year period between 2008 and 2050.