UK Budget Pledges CO2 Emission Reduction, Energy Efficient Investments

While the main thrust of the 2009 UK Budget was concerned with the current financial climate, the theme of the environment also featured heavily.  Below, Enviro-News lists the Budget’s main environmental points:

UK Budget Carbon Emission Reduction

Britain’s carbon emission reduction commitment has now been updated so to have achieved a 34 per cent CO2 emission cut by 2020.  This 34 per cent target marries up with advice given by the Committee on Climate Change, and stands as a first for any Budget, anywhere.

The announcement, according to the Budget report, "represents a step change in the UK ambition on climate change.”

Carbon Capture and Storage Technology

Britain has pledged to construct as many as four CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) sites.  Carbon Capture and Storage technology is a measure through which CO2 emissions released by activities likes industrial fossil fuel burning can be captured and placed in an area where they cannot escape into the atmosphere – deep underground, for example.

Through the European Investment Bank, an amount of £4 billion will be provided for financing new projects concerned with renewable energy technology.  An amount of £1.4 billion, meanwhile, will be provided for industries with little in the way of associated CO2 emissions, as a means of fighting climate change.  This £1.4 billion is sub-divided into a number of specific, environmentally friendly areas, including the following three:

• £525 million of it will be invested into developing new wind turbine technology over the coming 24 months.
• £375 million of it will be invested into making houses and offices more energy efficient and, thus, reducing their impact on the environment.  Of this, £100 million will be used to retrofit improved insulation into 150,000 existing properties, a further £100 million will be set aside for new properties incorporating improved insulation from the outset, and another £100 million will be loaned out to small-to-medium sized firms.  The remainder will go towards improving energy efficiency in public sector buildings and improving refuge infrastructure.
• £405 million will be provided as a boost to the development of hi-tech environmentally friendly technologies.

Of the comments made in the aftermath of the Chancellor’s Budget speech, many were critical of the 34 per cent CO2 emission reduction, saying that the measure was simply not enough.

“Setting the first ever carbon budgets is a ground-breaking step - but the government has ignored the latest advice from leading climate scientists and set targets that are completely inadequate”, Friends of the Earth’s Executive Director, Andy Atkins, stated.

“A 42% cut by 2020 is the minimum required if we are to play our part in avoiding dangerous climate change.”

Atkins’ comments were echoed by investment fund Climate Change Capital’s Vice-Chairman, James Cameron, who added: “The idea of a carbon budget is to be applauded and must become a permanent feature of how we direct our economy.

“But the reality is that creating a low carbon economy requires more than high-level commitment. The scale of investment required is huge, and thus far the commitments to stimulate the economy and reduce emissions have been small gestures, albeit in the right direction.

“They have identified the correct areas to be targeting with strategic intervention but the orders of magnitude are much too small.”