Government to miss 2020 renewable energy targets

MP’s on the Energy and Climate Change Committee have warned the Government that if the country continues in the same vein, it will fail to achieve its 2020 renewable energy target.

The obligation has three sub-targets; 30% in electricity, 12% in heat and 10% in transport. The UK is on course for its electricity target and may even exceed it. However it is not yet half way towards the heat and renewable transport segments.

Energy and Climate Change Committee Chair Angus MacNeil MP said:

"The experts we spoke to were clear: the UK will miss its 2020 renewable energy targets without major policy improvements. Failing to meet these would damage the UK’s reputation for climate change leadership. The Government must take urgent action on heat and transport to renew its efforts on decarbonisation.” The report made a number of recommendations to improve the key policies in the area; the Renewable Heat Incentive and the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation. At present heat pumps are being highlighted as key to the renewable heat target. However in practice they have proved unsatisfactory in use but still receive priority over biomass. In comparison biomethane has been recommended as crucial to the 2020 target.

Since 2013, the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation has been capped at 4.75%. However this is well below the level required for 2020. The Committee has therefore called for the level of the Obligation to be raised as soon as possible.

Recent changes to the Machinery of Government could present opportunities for low carbon and renewable energy policy. Closing the Department for Energy and Climate Change and incorporating it within the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy will allow joined up thinking.

Angus MacNeil MP added:

"We agreed our 2020 renewable energy targets as part of the EU but they still have many merits, even as the UK Government prepares for Brexit. If the UK reneges on these targets, it will undermine confidence in the Government’s commitment to clean energy and the climate targets agreed in Paris. Progress has been slow, but this must be taken as a call to action, not an excuse for backtrack."