The
United Kingdom's Climate Change Programme was launched in November 2000 by the
British government in response to its commitment agreed at the 1992
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992.
Earth Su ...
(UNCED). The 2000 programme was updated in March 2006 following a review launched in September 2004.
In 2008, the UK was the world's 9th greatest producer of man-made
carbon emissions, producing around 1.8% of the global total generated from
fossil fuels.
Aim and progress
The aims of the programme are not only to cut all
greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
by the agreed 12.5% from 1990 levels in the period 2008 to 2012 (the international Kyoto commitment), but to go beyond this by cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2010.
When the original programme was published in 2000, it confirmed that UK emissions were already forecast to be around 15% lower by 2010.
As of March 2006, government projections were in line with the official
energy policy of the United Kingdom) so that, by 2010, the UK will have reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by about 15-18% below 1990 levels, thus missing the government's internal target but achieving its
Kyoto Protocol target, with a projected reduction of emissions from the basket of all greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide) of about 23-25% from 1990 levels.
2000 Climate Change Programme
The stated strategies of the 2000 programme were to:
*Improve business’ use of energy, stimulate investment and cut costs;
*Stimulate new, more efficient sources of power generation;
*Cut emissions from the transport sector;
*Promote better energy efficiency in the domestic sector, saving householders money;
*Improve the energy efficiency requirements of the
building regulations;
*Continue cutting emissions from agriculture;
*Ensure the public sector took a leading role.
Government actions
The following are among the actions taken to implement the strategy:
Climate Change Act
On 26 November 2008, after cross-party pressure over several years, led by environmental groups, the Climate Change Act became law. The Act puts in place a framework to achieve a mandatory 80% cut in the UK's
carbon emissions by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels), with an intermediate target of between 34% by 2020 which would have risen in the event of a strong deal at
the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Renewables Obligation
Introduced on 1 April 2002, the Renewables Obligation requires all electricity suppliers who supply electricity to end consumers to supply a set portion of their electricity from eligible renewables sources; a proportion that will increase each year until 2015 from a 3% requirement in 2002–2003, via 10.4% in 2010-2012 up to 15.4% by 2015–2016. The UK Government announced in the 2006 Energy Review an additional target of 20% by 2020–21. For each eligible megawatt hour of renewable energy generated, a tradable certificate called a
renewables obligation certificate(ROC) is issued by
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On or before 31 September following the RO year (1 Apr - 31 Mar) Suppliers can meet their Renewables Obligation by:
*acquiring and redeeming ROCs,
*paying a buy-out price equivalent to £33.24/megawatt hour in 2006/07 and rising each year with retail price index;or
*a combination of redeeming ROCs and paying the buy-out price.
When a supplier meets all or part of its obligation by paying the buy-out price for each MWh of its obligation not discharged by the redemption of ROCs, the money is put into a holding account called the buy-out fund. The buy-out fund is recycled before 1 November to those electricity suppliers who presented ROCs against their Renewables Obligation. This 'recycling' is distributed equally for each ROC redeemed, those suppliers who did not redeem any ROCs will receive no 'recycling' from the buy-out fund.
The renewables obligation also makes requirements about how the electricity can be generated. An example is that the co-firing of biomass with coal is to be phased out - and will not be eligible for Renewable Obligation Certificates after 2016 (although the government has announced its intention to revisit the co-firing rules as part of the 2006 Energy Review).
The renewables transport fuel obligation is a separate law, which although is not in force yet, is set to become law. It would require bio-ethanol and bio-diesel to be added to road fuel, up to a limit of 2 or 5.75%. The land required for this would be considerable. It has been estimated (by the NFU) that the biomass could be grown by using all of the UK's net wheat exports, and growing wheat on 1,200 square kilometres of land.
Housing and community grants
Grants to assist with the installation of renewable energy sources in domestic properties and for community groups were made available through the Clear Skies organisation, and the Major Photovoltaics Demonstration programme. In 2006 these were replaced by the
Low Carbon Buildings Programme The Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP) was a payments system in England, Scotland and Wales. The UK Government programme was administered by BERR (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom), DTI) and ran from 1 April 2006 until ...
(LCBP).
CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
The
CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (the CRC, formerly the Carbon Reduction Commitment) was a mandatory carbon emissions reduction scheme in the United Kingdom which applied to large energy-intensive organisations in the public and private sectors. ...
is a mandatory
cap and trade
Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. The concept is also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS). Carbon emission t ...
scheme, announced in May 2007, that will apply to large non
energy-intensive organisations in the public and private sectors, including hotel chains, supermarkets, banks, central government and large
Local Authorities
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
. It is anticipated that the scheme will have cut
carbon emissions by 1.2 million tonnes of carbon per year by 2020.
[Action in the UK - Carbon Reduction Commitment](_blank)
, '' DEFRA'', published 2007-05-23, accessed 2007-05-23
The CRC scheme will apply to organisations that have a mandatory half-hourly metered electricity consumption greater than 6,000
MWh per year. This roughly equates to an electricity bill above
£500,000 (
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1,000,000), although it would apply to emissions from direct energy use as well as electricity purchased.
[2007 Energy White Paper: Meeting the Energy Challenge](_blank)
, '' Department of Trade and Industry'', published 2007-05-23, accessed 2007-05-25
The Green Deal
The Green Deal
The Green Deal was a UK government policy initiative that gave homeowners, landlords and tenants the opportunity to pay for energy efficient home improvements through the savings on their energy bills from 2012 to 2015. At the heart of the Gr ...
is a policy to encourage energy efficiency improvements in the UK's building stock. It will be financed through loans attached to the energy bills of the improved properties - The green deal was dropped by government in 2015.
Electricity Market Reform
Electricity Market Reform is a UK programme seeking to decarbonise electricity generation in the UK by providing low carbon generators guaranteed income through a
contract for difference arrangement.
It is made up of 2 mechanisms: Contract for Difference (CfD) and the Capacity Market (CM).
Nottingham Declaration
Although not part of the central government programme, in
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...
, over 300 councils have signed up to the ''Nottingham Declaration'', launched on 25 October 2000, committing them to work towards reducing emissions.
See also
*
Climate change in the United Kingdom
Climate change in the United Kingdom is impacting the country's environment and human population in many ways. The country's climate is becoming warmer, with drier summers and wetter winters. The frequency and intensity of storms, floods, droug ...
*
Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006
The Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006 (c 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which aims to boost the number of heat and electricity microgeneration installations in the United Kingdom, so helping to cut carbon emi ...
*
Action on climate change
*
List of climate change initiatives
This is a list of climate change initiatives of international, national, regional, and local political initiatives to take action on climate change (global warming).
A Climate Action Plan (CAP) is a set of strategies intended to guide efforts for ...
*
List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions
This is a list of sovereign states and territories by carbon dioxide emissions due to certain forms of human activity, based on thEDGAR databasecreated by European Commission and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency released in 201 ...
*''
Making Sweden an Oil-Free Society''
References
Further reading
*
External links
Climate Change Programme 2006Marine Climate Change Impacts PartnershipEnergy Saving TrustCarbon TrustText of the Nottingham Declaration (.doc)British Council and openDemocracy debate on the politics of climate change*http://www.saveenergy.co.uk/
Climate Change ChroniclesIncludes frequent stories and press releases related to the UK's Climate Change policy
*
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and is the author of a number of books.
Monbiot grew up in Oxfordsh ...
, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 30 June 2005
"Then ... and now: On November 8 1989, Margaret Thatcher shocked the UN with a speech on global warming."* July 2005
for housing
* June 2005
"London's political and business leaders come * [http://campaigncc.org Campaign against Climate ChangePressure group seeking to bring about a concerted response to climate change from government and public.
* [http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/government_climate_review_28032006">Campaign against Climate Change">"London's political and business leaders come
Campaign against Climate ChangePressure group seeking to bring about a concerted response to climate change from government and public.
environmentalist group's view of the programme's shortcomings.
government (DTI) details
Webtool and online global collaboration resource to accelerate 'cleantech' and inform about a Low Carbon Economy
{{Energy in the United Kingdom, sources
Climate change programs
Climate change policy in the United Kingdom
Programmes of the Government of the United Kingdom