UK emissions reductions ‘on track’ says Huhne

The UK’s energy secretary Chris Huhne has announced that emissions reduction plans are on track. This follows Chancellor George Osbourne’s comments in his autumn statement, in which he said he was concerned about the ‘endless social and environmental goals’ on business.

The UK has made a number of moves recently that could be seen as a ‘cooling’ attitude towards environmentalism. Feed in tariff subsidies were cut recently, making the value of installing micro-generation systems, like solar panels, less incentivised. There is a worry the sharp reductions in funding could have a damaging effect on the renewables industry.

Whilst there might be cause for concern, other countries in Europe have reduced their feed-in-tariffs as well, putting this down to too high a rate to begin with and to bring them more in line with other forms of energy generation. This is a legitimate move, which should help the sector to stand on its own two feet, as long as the process is handled carefully and not just seen as an opportunity for cuts.

Mr Huhne has said that the cuts can be put down to rapid decreases in the price of solar panels, suggesting that the sector no longer needed such large tariffs to thrive anymore. The reduction will mean the subsidies will last longer; the previous price would have meant the subsidies would run out by the end of 2012.

There seems to be a battle in coalition government at the moment between those that want to use the environmental banner to help out big business (energy efficiency saving money) and those that want to see structural changes in business, with switches to renewables and micro-generation for example. Projects like the Green Investment Bank for example, are in a state of limbo, with no ability to fund low-carbon projects until at least 2016.