Britain to miss targets for renewable energy sources

THE UK is set to miss targets for sourcing energy from renewables by the end of the decade, MPs have warned.

Under European Union goals, the UK must ensure 15% of energy comes from green sources by 2020, including 30% of electricity, 12% of heat and 10% in transport.

But while Britain is set to outstrip its renewable electricity target by 2020, it is not yet halfway to the heating goal, and the proportion of renewables in transport fell last year, a report form the Energy and Climate Change (ECC) Committee said. Ministers must raise the cap for the percentage of transport fuels coming from biofuels, and consider reintroducing a system of vehicle excise duties which restores incentives for electric cars and other ultra-low emissions vehicles, the MPs said.

Government plans on renewable heating, spending more subsidies on heat pumps and less on biomass fuels such as wood chip, are not the best path to meeting the targets, they warned.

Many heat pumps, which use ambient air or ground temperatures to create heating, have proven unsatisfactory in actual use, and need well-insulated homes to function best, the report said.

In a separate report, think tank Policy Exchange called for the target for renewable heat to be ditched, and for the Government to focus on the cheapest ways of cutting carbon emissions from heating.

The study by the think tank, which suggested Government plans to switch most homes to heat pumps by 2050 would cost £12,000 for every household, said long-term targets to cut emissions could be met through measures including better energy efficiency.

There should be better use of gas, by encouraging replacing old boilers with highly efficient models, and more use of green gas, such as injecting biomethane made from products such as food waste into the grid, the Policy Exchange report argued.

The MPs also backed support for biomethane, saying it “is crucial to meeting the 2020 target and must remain a funding priority”.

The ECC committee report argued that while the 2020 targets were set by the EU, they had been adopted by the UK and still had many merits even as Britain prepared for Brexit.

If the UK misses or reneges on its commitment to the targets, it will undermine confidence in its determination to meet other long-term goals, including its legally-binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, the MPs said.

Committee chairman Angus MacNeil said: “The experts we spoke to were clear: the UK will miss its 2020 renewable energy targets without major policy improvements.

“Failing to meet these would damage the UK’s reputation for climate change leadership.

“The Government must take urgent action on heat and transport to renew its efforts on decarbonisation.”