Click here to keep up to date and make your voice heard on climate change policy in the European Parliament.
According to figures from 2005, the UK contributed 15.7% of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the countries that made up the European Union in 2004 (the EU-15). UK per capita emissions stood at 10.9 tonnes – slightly higher than the average for the enlarged, post-2004 EU. Under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, the EU collectively must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 8% compared to 1990 levels by 2008-2012. According to the ‘burden sharing agreement’ reached between EU member states in 1998, the UK is required to reduce emissions of the main greenhouse gases by 12.5% below 1990 levels.
The UK is commonly regarded as a leader when it comes to climate policy, and is indeed one of the few countries expected to deliver more emission reduction than international commitments require. However, the extent to which this success is due to climate policy is debatable. To a large extent, the emission reductions achieved during the 1990s were a by-product of unrelated policy reforms, in particular fuel-switching from coal to natural gas in the electricity sector following privatization.
The UK has had a Climate Change Programme of policies in place since 1994. The current Government set out its own programme in 2000 and 2006. The 2000 Programme set out how the UK Government intended to meet its Kyoto target, together with a domestic target, set in 1997, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2010. Although the UK appears on course to meet its Kyoto target, most likely it will not meet the 1997 domestic target (EAC 2007). A diverse mix of policies has been used across various sectors to deliver emissions savings. Broadly, households are subject to regulatory instruments such as building standards and the Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC). The transport sector has relied on a mixture of voluntary agreements made at EU-level with car manufacturers and domestic fiscal incentives. The business sector is subject to a range of policy instruments, including the EU’s emissions trading scheme and national-level taxation. In the energy sector, a Renewables Obligation (RO) has required utility companies to source an increasing proportion of electricity from renewable sources (DEFRA 2006).
The Climate Change Bill currently proceeding through Parliament contains provisions to create a legally binding target of carbon dioxide emission reductions for the UK of at least 26% by 2020 and 60% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. Key features of the Bill include provisions to require the Government to publish five yearly carbon budgets from 2008 and create a Committee on Climate Change to advise on acceptable levels. The Bill also places a duty on the Government to assess the risk to the UK from the impacts of climate change and provides powers to establish trading schemes for the purpose of limiting greenhouse gases.
With the advent of the Commission’s proposed Climate and Energy ‘package’, published in January 2008, UK policy becomes increasingly bound up with European-level policies. The current proposals put the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) more firmly at the centre of European climate policy, replacing the current system whereby member states set emissions caps for their own economies with an EU-wide cap to 2020 and beyond. For the UK, the Commission’s proposals include requirements for a reduction of 16 per cent in UK greenhouse gas emissions from sectors not covered by the EU ETS by 2020 (from 2005 levels), and for 15 per cent of the energy consumed in the UK to come from renewable sources by 2020 (a significant increase from the current 1.5 per cent share).
The UK government is currently running a number of consultation exercises on the Commission's proposals. They are:
- consultation on the proposal on CO2 and cars
- consultation on renewable energy strategy
- consultation on carbon capture and storage.
A consultation on the EU emissions trading scheme has already closed.
The UK has 9 MEPs who are members of the CLIM or ENVI Committee, or both.
Some of the key stakeholders in debates over climate policy are listed here.