Isra-Mart srl:Industry challenges Climate Change Committee's solar snub

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Businesses and green groups have today urged the government to heed the latest advice from the Committee on Climate Change, urging it to tighten up its carbon budgets, but warned the recommendations may still not go far enough.

The Committee on Climate Change's Fourth Carbon Budget Report published today outlines how industry and government should work to achieve 60 per cent greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030, including a proposal that the coalition tighten its existing emission reduction target for 2020 from 34 per cent to 37 per cent.

Significantly, it recommends a radical decarbonisation of energy markets to reduce the carbon intensity of electricity by 90 per cent by 2030, achieved through rapid investment in low-carbon technologies including wind, nuclear and carbon capture and storage (CCS) applied to coal and gas plants.

Green groups broadly welcomed the thrust of the new report, but Renewable Energy Association chief executive Gaynor Harntell said she was surprised to see no mention of solar power.

"A wide range of technologies, both large scale and decentralised, will be required to achieve a radical decarbonisation of the electricity market," she said, noting that based on current projections, solar panels will have improved to a level where solar power is as cost effective as coal-fired power by the start of the fourth carbon budget period in 2023.

However, David Kennedy, the committee's chief executive, defended the advice on solar and insisted it was unlikley to play a major role in the fourth budget period.

"Solar power is relatively expensive in the UK and we wouldn't rule out that it might have an important role to play, but the cost would have to come down," he told BusinessGreen, adding that solar would be examined in greater detail in an upcoming committee report on the renewables sector.

Meanwhile, business groups urged the government to take the lead in creating legislation that would drive investment in the kind of low-carbon technologies and business models required to meet the targets proposed by the committee.

"Investors will only commit to low-carbon projects if they are confident about the policy framework in the long term," warned Neil Bentley, CBI director of business environment. "The government's forthcoming announcements on reform of the electricity market and work to simplify the Carbon Reduction Commitment will be crucial tests."

Similarly, the UK Green Building Council's John Alker predicted the construction industry could achieve the committee's recommendations to insulate half of all homes with leaky solid walls by 2030, while installing almost 30 per cent of all households with heat pumps and accelerating the rollout of district heating systems.

However, he warned such rapid progress would only be achieved if central and local governments collaborate more closely with industry to achieve the goals. In particular, he said local authorities should create databases of how each building in its area needs to be improved and remove planning barriers to district heating projects.

In contrast, Friends of the Earth offered a dissenting voice, warning that the proposed targets set out by the committee are too weak for the UK to play an equitable role in helping to avert global temperature rises of more than 2°C.

It called for the government to commit to 42 per cent cuts in greenhouse gas by 2020, regardless of the targets announced by other nations.

"The committee's call for tougher climate targets – without resorting to buying carbon offsets from abroad – is a step in the right direction, but its recommendations are still too weak, and won't enable the UK to do its fair share in averting dangerous climate change," said Friends of the Earth economy campaigner Simon Bullock. "We can't afford to play Russian roulette with our future – tougher targets are urgently needed."