Green Energy Republic

UK Budget – Green jam tomorrow?

By Juliet Davenport

Despite the coalition labelling itself the greenest government ever, environmental measures were conspicuous by their absence from yesterday’s budget.

This budget was strictly business – with the focus clearly on spending cuts and tax rises. Although we did get promises of greener things to come in the Autumn, it would have been nice to hear more on these initiatives yesterday. 

We can look forward to seeing more detailed proposals to reform the climate change levy in order to support the carbon price – something Good Energy welcomes as it should encourage greater uptake of renewables, helping the UK reach its targets. 

We also want to hear more detail on how the Green Investment Bank will work – and the Green Deal to help people invest in better energy efficiency. 

Environmenatlists will also have been disappointed not to get an announcement on taxing air travel, switching from a per passenger to a per plane duty – although the Chancellor did say he’d ‘explore’ such changes to help reduce carbon emissions. 

Here at Good Energy, we’re disappointed but not all that surprised that the government didn’t use this opportunity to do more on the green agenda, especially given its headline commitment to fighting climate change outlined in the coalition agreement. There’s plenty of work still to be done – even with spending restrictions in place.

Areas we are keen to see develop are that the coalition stick to its pre-election pledge to reform the feed-in tariff in line with our campaign for a Fair Deal for Energy Entrepreneurs and support for the Renewable Heat Incentive. 

Post-election positives – some good news for the climate

By Juliet

While we wait with bated breath to find out exactly what the new government is going to look like, there's already some good news for Good Energy and our campaigning agenda on climate change…

Here in Chippenham, Liberal Democrat candidate Duncan Hames was elected earlier this morning. Good Energy had a really productive meeting with Duncan, and Shadow Cabinet member Chris Huhne during the campaign and, with his strong track record of fighting for the environment, we hope Duncan will act as a vocal advocate both in Parliament and within his own Party for the action we need to empower people and businesses to make climate change a priority in this government.

Meanwhile, another victory for the environment came with the election of Green Party leader Caroline Lucas as MP for Brighton Pavillion. Congratulations to the Greens for winning their first seat in Parliament – and it was a hotly contested one at that – and ensuring that people concerned about climate change will have a strong voice in government at last.

Another positive step forward for the climate change agenda comes with the election of the Tories’ Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park. His well-known green credentials and high-profile position as Conservative adviser on environmental issues should ensure a strong voice in support of the environment amidst the Tory ranks.

If you care about the environment, please vote

This election will be a critical one for climate change. According to the science, global carbon emissions need to have stopped rising within this decade if we are to limit global warming to two degrees.

However, for most of the campaign the main parties have all but ignored the environment as an election issue.

If you’re not sure which party has the best policies for tackling climate change, we hope the summary below could give you some ideas!  For further help www.voteforpolicies.org.uk  is a unique survey, based on policies alone, to help you find out who you should be voting for.

But whoever you choose please do vote!!

Here’s how the main parties stack up on green issues:

What targets have they set for the UK?

LibDems:  To make the UK carbon neutral by 2050, with up to 10% of offsets.  Reduce emissions by 40% by 2020 with no offsetting.

Greens:  65% cut in emissions by 2020, 90% by 2030. Aim to obtain 50% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 and ensure that emissions from power generation are zero by 2030.

Conservatives:  Reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, 10% cut in central Government emissions within 12 months.

Labour:   15% renewable energy, with 40% “low carbon” electricity both by 2020, transport emissions also down by 14% by 2020. 

How do they intend to meet them?

Greens:  £45bn ‘Green Deal’ investment to create 1m green jobs.  Free home insulation programme for every home. Enlarge and develop renewable energy feed-in tariffs paying premium rates for large and small producers of renewable electricity.  Direct £20bn Government investment in renewable generation.  Reallocate current Government’s road building budget into public transport. Introduce stronger planning policies to support onshore wind, tidal, wave, solar and geothermal energy schemes. Give micro-renewables ‘permitted development’ status.

LibDems:  £3.1bn public investment to create 100,000 green jobs. Introduce an Eco-Cashback Scheme to give people £400 towards energy efficient home improvements and small energy generation projects. National home insulation programme, paid out of energy savings.  No new coal unless fitted with carbon capture (CCS). Also require CCS on industrial emissions, though support an exemption for renewable suppliers from paying for CCS.  Amend energy tariffs so you pay more, the more you use.

Conservatives:  Green Deal loan for all homes up to £6,500 to improve energy efficiency repaid for over 25 years, from energy savings.  Reform the Climate Change Levy into a carbon tax.  Develop smart grid and roll out smart meters quicker, by 2016 rather than 2020.  Increase offshore wind, introduce financial incentives for local communities to build onshore wind farms and develop two marine energy parks.  New nuclear stations and coal with carbon capture, but support an exemption for renewable energy suppliers from paying for CCS. Expand feed-in-tariffs for incentivising renewable generation up to 10MW.

Labour:   Ensure all homes have loft and cavity wall insulation by 2015. Introduce ‘Pay As You Save’ financing schemes under which home energy improvements can be paid for from the savings they generate on energy bills. Increase offshore wind by up to 40 times the current capacity. Develop new nuclear stations, and coal stations with carbon capture.  Create 400,000 green jobs by 2015. Create a £2bn Green Investment Bank to encourage investment in energy infrastructure.

What do they propose to do on the international front?

Labour:   Push the EU to move its emission reduction target for 2020 from 20% to 30%.  Work for a legally binding global agreement to limit global temperature rise to 2C.  Increase UK commitment to 34% reduction, if other countries sign a legally binding agreement.

LibDems:  Work for a legally binding global agreement to limit global temperatures to 1.7C, based on equalising emissions between developed and developing nations. Develop an electricity grid that can connect and integrate clean energy technologies particularly through the better use of sub-sea connections, leading to the development of a European Supergrid.

Conservatives:  Work towards ambitious global deal, including financial support for adaptation and mitigation by poorer countries.

Greens:  Will work on a global climate change deal. Support Europe-wide renewable energy initiatives.

What policies set them apart?

Greens:  Phase out nuclear power. Will renationalise the railways and reduce motorway speed limits to 55 mph.

LibDems:  No new nuclear power stations.  Will introduce a bus scrappage scheme to replace old buses with more efficient ones.

Conservatives:  Do not propose significant public expenditure in order to achieve policy objectives, preferring to use the power of market instead. Plan to reform Ofgem and DECC. Will incentivise electricity network operators to build a national network of electric vehicle charging points.

Labour:   Support a 3rd runway at Heathrow, keep current Climate Change Levy arrangements.  Retain plans for a central Government Infrastructure Planning Commission. Believe that renewable electricity customers should pay for CCS and that FiT ‘early adopters’ should not be recognised.

Want to find out more?

Click on the links below to read all parties’ green manifestos in full.

• Labour’s Green manifesto
• Green Party manifesto
• Lib Dems Green manifesto
• Conservative manifesto

 

Fair Deal for Energy Entrepreneurs – election update

We’ve had a few phone calls from customers asking us which party offers the best support for microgenerators. Well, here at Good Energy we try and stay politically neutral – we want to ensure that climate change and a sensible renewable energy policy are high on the agenda for all parties.

But with an election looming, we think it’s time for an update on our campaign for a Fair Deal for Energy Entrepreneurs -- and what the main parties’ positions are.

In case you missed it, our campaign is about getting a better deal for early adopters of microgeneration technology. Under the FiT scheme introduced on April 1st by the current Labour government,  those who installed their technology before July 15th 2009 will be getting a much lower payment (9p a unit) than those who were accredited after that date (up to 41.3p). We believe that green energy entrepreneurs should not be worse off under the new scheme. So we’ve been campaigning for a change in the legislation to ensure they get the recognition they deserve. See more here.

Before parliament was dissolved for the start of the election campaign, Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael tabled an Early Day Motion on this issue. Some 96 MPs signed the motion, which is a great result.

The largest group of signatories by party was the Lib Dems, with 40 of their group of 60 MPs adding their names to the motion. However, their front bench energy team has yet to make a statement openly supporting the campaign.

By contrast, the Conservatives have publicly promised to change the law if they get elected, saying “within fair and appropriate conditions, we will allow capacity that was installed without public subsidy before the start of the feed-in tariff scheme to qualify for the tariffs.”

Of course, a lot depends on what they mean by ‘fair and appropriate conditions’.

Meanwhile, we’ve heard nothing from Labour – but then, as their government was responsible for what we’re campaigning against in the first place, perhaps that’s not surprising.

We’ll be looking in greater depth at the different parties’ broader manifestos for the environment on the blog over the next few days – so watch this space.

___________________

Our friends over at Friends of the Earth are running a great campaign on the issue. Friends of the Earth's letter to the three main parties and their full responses can be seen at: www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/decentrailed_energy_letter.pdf

And take a look at their blog here: http://election.foe.co.uk/blog/entry/a-landslide-in-favour-of-renewable-energy-in-the-home/

Measuring up to the challenge: Sketch from the Climate Hustings

By Barney Rhys Jones, MD, Good Energy

With all parties’ election campaigning reaching fever pitch, I was delighted to attend the Ask the Climate Question hustings at the Institute of Civil Engineers this week. Organised by a coalition of organisations including WWF, RSPB, Oxfam, Tearfund, and Greenpeace the objective was to ensure that climate issues are not forgotten in key marginals in the run up to the vote.

On the panel were the environmental spokespeople from the four main parties: Ed Miliband for Labour, Simon Hughes for the Lib Dems, Darren Johnson for the Greens and Greg Clark for the Tories. The packed audience was a lively mix of journos, activists and green professionals (like myself!). In the chair, Mike McCarthy of the Independent.

The big question for most of us is, why is the environment so far off the agenda this election? Greg Clark’s answer was that the main parties were largely aligned – and agreement makes for poor TV.  However, whilst the parties share some common ground -  notably on the threat posed by climate change (no deniers in this room), the need to improve energy efficiency and support for a green bank - what we saw over the next hour and a half did not quite support his assertion, with some great political point scoring and clear delineation of policy, philosophy and intent.

Ed Miliband as the incumbent was knowledgeable and assured in his presentation, but by asking to be measured on his plan left the door open to the others to challenge Labour’s actual delivery.  The principal challenge from Simon Hughes was that both Labour and Conservatives are proposing too little too late, implying some cynicism in the scramble to be seen as green over the last 18 months, when so little has been achieved in the years leading up to this. 

The Green Party’s Darren Johnson spoke with uncompromising passion and really laid down the aspirational benchmark for the other parties - criticising the Tories for lack of commitment, Labour for insufficient investment and the Lib Dems for not being prepared to make unpopular but necessary decisions.

Greg Clark had to fend off accusations from the Chair that despite the Tories staking a claim to the green agenda, with climate-scepticism worn as a badge of honour amongst Spectator readers there was strong evidence that grass roots Tories don’t take the environment seriously.  This was seized upon by Ed MiIliband who quoted a recent survey in which the environment was rated as 19th out of 19 issues by Conservative candidates.

It was difficult for Greg Clark to recover from those body blows in front of an eco-passionate audience.  Though his conviction that proposed legislation on key issues, such as a floor price on carbon, smart meters and an offshore grid, would be passed in short order carried some weight, in comparison to the Lib Dems integrated manifesto and approach, the Conservative approach seemed less holistic.

With Labour accusing the Tories of being shallow, Simon Hughes commented that despite the Conservatives environmental position being born of a need to detoxify its brand in 2006, their commitment still managed to outshine Labour’s record.

Virtually ignoring an aside from the chairman that the Green Party’s environmental section did not start until page 37 of the manifesto (understandable as the Green’s biggest communication challenge has been that they are not a single-issue party and have other policies) Darren Johnson had to face up to assertions that his party would never be in power so their position was of little consequence.  But his cry for the need for Green representation in Westminster so as to continue the good work achieved at local and European level on key environmental and social justice issues had resonance.

On energy, local authorities have a duty to make contribution to renewable energy targets, Hughes said, listing missed renewable energy and air pollution targets. Greg Clark claimed that setting targets at local level was unnecessary to achieve overall targets.  However, given the degree of NIMBYISM in the UK it does seems unlikely that without top-down targets being cascaded out the commitment will be achieved.

On the contentious nuclear issue: Miliband explained that no low-carbon technology should be ruled out; Clarke claimed that under Tory plans nuclear would definitely not be subsidised by the taxpayer; Hughes explained that the numbers didn’t add up and it would take too long – with Johnson agreeing that even if the numerous issues were resolved nuclear will be too late to help and other technologies would be better served with the same investment.

At the end of the debate, as I walked down Milbank in the sunshine, mulling the spin, the buzz, the accusations and counter-claims, I came away with the sense that we have to balance three things: pragmatic ideas; a track record of commitment to difficult policy decisions; and a genuine feeling that energy issues are central to the philosophy of the party we choose to support.