Responding to the Spring Statement, Ami McCarthy, Greenpeace UK’s
Political Campaigner, said:
“This misguided Budget shows the stranglehold fossil fuel and
nuclear lobbies have on this Government. Why else would it take
such a dangerous gamble on unproven technologies?
“Squandering taxpayers’ money on nuclear reactors that don’t even
exist yet and fanciful carbon capture is irresponsible, and does
nothing to reduce our emissions now. Committing to £20bn over 20
years is frankly pathetic compared to the green growth
investments being made in the US, EU and China.
“The Government must instead prioritise renewables, invest in a
smarter grid, and insulate people’s homes at the scale we need to
keep us warm, save money on bills, and bring down carbon
emissions.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
2. Small Modular Reactors
Small modular nuclear reactors for power generation do not exist
currently, one has not yet been built in the West. Basing any
significant aspect of energy strategy or energy security on them
is a dangerous gamble. Making nuclear reactors small rather than
big does not make them sustainable; it does not solve the
problems of waste, or threats of accidents, security, terrorism,
or proliferation, which have not been systematically solved by
any country.
3. Carbon Capture and Storage
The focus must be on reduction rather than storage of carbon.
Cancellations and delays to large-scale and demonstration
projects in the US, UK, Europe and Australia are commonplace and
show the very real challenges of depending on a technology that
has failed to live up to the hype from the fossil fuel industry.
It is not a modular technology that is likely to see plummeting
prices with higher deployment as has been seen with renewables,
storage, electric vehicles. Focussing on efficiency and
renewables are the fastest and cheapest way of reducing
emissions.
4. Greenpeace demands for tackling the energy crisis and
the cost of living
Insulation
The Government must commit £5.3bn immediately
for the rest of this parliament for investment in energy
efficiency measures - including both quick to deploy measures
like draft proofing and loft insulation, and medium term measures
like solid wall insulation. There should also be commitment to a
major programme of energy efficiency work through the rest of the
2020s.
Renewable energy
The Government must remove barriers to onshore and offshore wind
and invest in solar, including capital investment in the grid,
removing planning blockages, mandating solar on new buildings. In
addition, the Government should change the Electricity Generator
Levy so that it is a tax on profits, not revenues - as per the
oil and gas windfall tax - and introduce an investment allowance
for renewable generators who are continuing to invest in more
renewables. The price of gas is forecast to remain high for years
to come. Alongside being a finite resource and a cause of climate
change, high prices mean the government must urgently upgrade the
UK’s energy mix and accelerate the transition away from expensive
and polluting fossil fuels.
Heat pumps
Commit £3.37bn now as part of a
market mechanism to accelerate the transition away from gas
heating towards installation of heat pumps.
Windfall Tax
Much of the above spending commitments could be funded through a
proper windfall tax on energy producer profits. The government’s
current plans must go significantly further through, in the first
instance, closing the perverse Investment Allowance, and then
exploring options to ramp up the tax level further to tap into
the £170bn that a Treasury leaked
document has suggested is available as excess profit from UK
gas producers and electricity generators over the next two years.
Cost of Living
Keeping the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) at £2,500 per month,
rather than raising it to £3,000 is welcome, as is the commitment
to end higher prices for those using energy prepayment meters.
But the EPG extension is only for an extra 3 months until the end
of June. 7.5 million households in the UK will continue to be in
fuel poverty from 1st April.
Average household energy bills are double what they were in 2021.
Much more is still needed to
provide immediate support for households with the cost of living
crisis - such as an uplift in disability benefits, restoring the
£20 uplift for Universal Credit, and suspending all prescription
charges in England until December 2024, amongst other measures.
Closing the windfall tax loophole for oil and gas would go a long
way towards covering these costs.
