The U.K.’s treasury and business department is seeking ways to scrap the country’s binding EU target of sourcing 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, reports Bloomberg.
Citing an anonymous individual with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg says that officials are hopeful that a post-Brexit Britain can avoid the fines and penalties associated with missing its EU target if they can find ways to abandon the goal – a goal that the country is unlikely to hit either way.
Fines could run into the tens of millions, and officials believe that rather than fall short and face the penalty, the far easier option for Brexit Britain is to take its foot off the clean energy accelerator, rather than press ahead with scaling up investment in wind and solar power.
If the U.K. is successful in wriggling out of its obligations, it would be another tangible sign that the country is increasingly out of step with the majority of mainland Europe. In late March, British Prime Minister Theresa May officially triggered Article 50, which has begun the formal process of the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union.
This process will take a maximum of two years and in the few days since its triggering, Article 50 has already thrown up a series of flashpoints. Wranglings and discussions between the U.K. and the EU are nothing new, but in this post-Brexit climate they come tinged with extra barbs on both sides.
However, if the U.K. were to formally give up on its climate targets, there would be little sympathy within Europe. As things stand, Britain is about halfway towards achieving the goal of 15% renewable penetration by 2020, but the pace of clean energy installation is set to fall, not rise, between then and now. On April 1 the Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) scheme was formally ended for solar power, and besides a falling FIT there is very little in the way of support for the sector.
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Criticized for its desire to “cherry pick” the benefits of EU membership, the U.K. could be on course for more flashpoints where energy is concerned. In the European Parliament this week, MEPs ruled that industry-specific deals between the U.K. and the EU will not be allowed, and any future deal between the two bodies is conditional on the U.K. upholding the climate and energy goals it agreed to while under EU membership.
A statement emailed to Bloomberg by the U.K. government said that the country is committed to tackling climate change and will meet all targets “while we remain part of the EU”.
“We are proposing a bold and ambitious trade agreement that covers sectors crucial to our linked economies, including network industries,” said the government official.
According to the National Grid, the U.K. will hit 15% renewable penetration no earlier than 2022 based on current projections. The wider 2030 goal agreed by the EU at the COP21 summit in Paris in 2015 is also in doubt from a British perspective, with the government official revealing that the country wishes to “avoid further constraints on its energy mix stemming from the EU”.
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This is disgusting, shows that the PM having a science degree from oxford, does not mean she understands the perilous state of the planet. Maybe studying at Oxford is more about networking than knowledge.
The only first world country to reduce its CO2 emissions is America. They have done this by fracking, replacing coal with gas, rather than unreliable, intermittent and expensive sources of energy such as wind and solar.
The PM can read the scientific evidence rather than the political hype of the activists.
Yes, leaving aside the dubious evidence that CO2 is the main driver of any climate change, we need fracking in the UK, not the absurd importation of tree wood from the USA, which passes my house several times a day on huge trains on its way to fuel DRAX at vast taxpayer expense while claiming to save the planet!
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Maybe she justs understands the difference between religion and science. She realizes that comments like ” perilous state of the planet” are just part of the religious dogma and are not based on any validated experiments/results, just models with no credibility demonstrated.
p.s. – I do science for a living, the climate movement is a dark spot on our profession.
Well said! It is becoming a bogus religion with the people who believe CO2 runs the climate. All disagreements now seem to become “religions”. Very strange!
This religious dogma is promoted for the ONLY benefit of those having cash and land, sinking the few € from mislead populations.
The perilous state of our planet? Good grief.when is climate change tackled? What does climate change target actually mean? Whats supposed to happened to the climate? My guess miniscule up and down variations as always.
Looks like this story missed its April 1st deadline. The UK is leaving the EU. They can try to impose all the fines they like, we are not paying.
More Presstitute support for the pseudo-science of global warming by such charlatans as Mann: and the “majority of mainland Europe” – not a particularly savvy scientific body. That is why we chose to leave the reach of the Octopus of Brussels.
CO2 is not toxic: it is vital to the survival of life on this planet. “Greenists Go Home !”