[NYTr] Revealed: UK cover-up plan on energy target

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by tsimonds (activ-l)

The Guardian - Aug 13, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/13/renewableenergy.energy

Revealed: cover-up plan on energy target

Ministers urged to lobby for get-out on renewables

by Ashley Seager and Mark Milner

Government officials have secretly briefed ministers that Britain has no
hope of getting remotely near the new European Union renewable energy
target that Tony Blair signed up to in the spring - and have suggested
that they find ways of wriggling out of it.

In contrast to the government's claims to be leading the world on
climate change, officials within the former Department of Trade and
Industry have admitted that under current policies Britain would miss
the EU's 2020 target of 20% energy from renewables by a long way. And
their suggestion that "statistical interpretations of the target" be
used rather than new ways to reach it has infuriated environmentalists.

An internal briefing paper for ministers, a copy of which has been
obtained by the Guardian, reveals that officials at the department, now
the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, think the
best the UK could hope for is 9% of energy from renewable sources such
as wind, solar or hydro by 2020.

It says the UK "has achieved little so far on renewables" and that
getting to 9%, from the current level of about 2%, would be
"challenging". The paper was produced in the early summer, around the
time the government published its energy white paper.

Under current policies renewables would account for only 5% of Britain's
energy mix by 2020, the document says. The EU average is 7%; Germany is
at 13%. It acknowledges that Germany, unlike Britain, has built a
"strong and growing renewables industry".

EU leaders agreed the 20% target for the bloc in spring. The European
Commission is working out how to reach this .

DBERR officials fear that Britain may end up being told to get to 16%,
which it describes as "very challenging". The paper suggests a number of
ways ministers could wriggle out of specific commitments. It also
suggests ministers lobby certain EU commissioners and countries such as
France, Germany, Poland and Italy to agree to a more flexible
interpretation of the target, by including nuclear power, for example,
or investment in solar farms in Africa.

Officials ask ministers to examine "what options there are for
statistical interpretations of the target that would make it easier to
achieve".

They suggest the target lacks credibility because it is so ambitious,
while acknowledging that the Germans will be difficult to persuade
because the Chancellor Angela Merkel is the champion of the 20% target
and wants to commit Germany to 27%.

"These flexible options are ones that may be difficult to negotiate with
some member states such as Germany, who we expect to resist approaches
that may be seen to water down the renewables target," the briefing
says.

Environmentalists were shocked. "This briefing reads like a 'wriggle and
squirm' paper," said Andrew Simms, director of the New Economics
Foundation. "It combines almost comic desperation from civil servants
suddenly realising that they actually have to do something to promote
renewable energy, with a breathtaking cynicism as they explore every
conceivable get-out clause to escape the UK's international
commitments."

A spokesman for DBERR said he would not comment on leaked documents, but
added: "This government is committed to renewables and reducing
emissions in line with EU targets."

The Conservative's shadow secretary of state, Alan Duncan, said: "This
is a staggering revelation and shows the government has known all along
it won't meet its targets but has deliberately avoided admitting it.
They have been living a lie."

The Lib Dem environment spokesman, Chris Huhne, agreed: "This news
confirms that the government has said yes to an EU target of 20% of
renewable energy without any visible means of achieving it. If the
government's policy is now to have any credibility and not be seen as a
cynical attempt to woo green opinion, ministers must stop fudging and
start acting."

The paper reveals an aversion to renewables on the basis of perceived
cost, arguing that they are a more expensive way of reducing carbon
emissions than the European Emissions Trading Scheme. It estimates that
getting to 9% by 2020 could cost the economy #4bn a year.

Environmentalists reject the idea that renewables are too expensive.
Even #4bn a year is only about one third of the 1% of gross domestic
product rich countries were recommended to spend a year combating
climate change.

The paper also reveals that carbon capture and underground storage of
CO2 emissions from new coal-fired power stations is projected to make
little contribution before 2020. "This is betrayal of the highest
order," said Rajiv Bhatia, head of renewable energy distributor
Alternergy.

Jeremy Leggett, of solar energy company Solarcentury, said: "It would
not surprise me if this delay in renewables deployment was the tactical
objective all along for some senior officials in DTI. Serving on the
government's Renewables Advisory Board from 2003 to 2006, I witnessed
what cynics could easily have mistaken for a deliberate campaign of
delay, obfuscation, and the parking, if not torpedoing, of good ideas
coming from industry members of the board."