Ten years to the day since the Climate Change Act was passed,
Energy UK is marking the occasion by publishing a ten-point
action plan setting out how the UK can continue as a world leader
in tackling climate change.
The power sector has made a massive contribution in helping the
UK’s carbon emissions fall to a level last seen in 1890 - thanks
to the huge increase in the amount of electricity generated by
low carbon sources over the last decade. The power sector has
more than halved its own emissions since the Act was passed and
low carbon sources now supply 51% of the electricity generated in
the UK.
During this time the cost of renewables, such as wind and solar,
has plummeted not only making clean energy increasingly cheaper
but also boosting the UK economy with an estimated 400,000 people
employed in low carbon jobs across the country.
Energy UK’s ten-point
action plan therefore sets out areas where the industry
and government can work together to continue and accelerate the
UK’s progress in tackling climate change – such as rolling out a
national energy efficiency programme, enabling other sectors like
transport and heating to similarly slash emissions and ensuring
that all low carbon sources, including the cheapest, can play a
full role in further decarbonising the power
sector.
Energy UK is also publishing ‘Energy and our
Environment’, a publication of essays in which leading
politicians - such as current energy Minister and former environment
Secretary of State - scientists, academics
and regulators as well as figures from the energy sector and
environmental groups, offer their different perspectives reflect
on how the Climate Change Act came into force, its influence in
effecting the power sector’s transformation and the challenges
that lie ahead both for the UK and the rest of the world.
To accompany this publication, Energy UK has also
produced a short film where a group of 10 years olds from Micklem
Primary School in Hemel Hempstead talk about why climate
change matters to them.
The publication will be officially launched tonight at a
Parliamentary event marking the anniversary held in partnership
with the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the All-Party
Parliamentary Climate Change Group (APPCCG) and Policy Connect.
Speaking at the event will be MP (APPCCG Chair), The Rt
Hon MP (Minister of State for
Energy and Clean Growth), The Rt Hon. MP (former Secretary of State
for the Department of Energy and Climate Change), Lawrence Slade
(Energy UK’s chief executive), Dr Emily Shuckburgh (British
Antarctic Survey) and The Rt Hon. the Lord Deben (Chair of the
CCC)
Energy UK chief executive, Lawrence Slade said:
“Ten years on from the Act, it’s an appropriate time to reflect
on the astonishing transformation that it has helped bring about
in the power sector in particular, to a degree few thought
possible at the time. It was a landmark and courageous piece of
legislation which committed us to binding targets for reducing
emissions and has made the UK a world leader in tackling climate
change.
“As well as the environmental benefits resulting from this
success story, decarbonisation has boosted our economy, with the
investment and innovation seen over the last ten years giving
clean energy an ever growing share of the power we use - at an
ever falling cost.
“But as well as celebrating the achievements, we cannot lose
sight that much more work and even greater challenges lie ahead.
That’s why our ten-point action plan sets out the path that the
UK needs to follow if we are to keep leading the way in tackling
climate change.”
