White papers and fighting talk

Judged by soundbite standards, the long-awaited Energy White Paper was a corker when it came. Strong on sustainability, high on aspirations. An end to fuel poverty within 15 years, a 60% cut in carbon emissions by 2050, new funds to support a move to a low carbon economy - and no new nukes. Coming the same day as a speech by Tony Blair which was jam-packed with sustainability rhetoric and commitment, it bore all the signs of a government finally nailing its colours to the mast.

Look closer, though, and you can’t be so sure. When goals are expressed as aspirations rather than commitments, the sceptics suspect they are witnessing the watering-down of what needs to be strong spirit.

The most striking example of this is the share of electricity to come from renewables. The 2010 target of 10% is maintained - but how much commitment is entailed in the White Paper’s wording that “our further commitment is to double renewables’ share by 2020”? It’s not the same as setting a 20% target and pledging the policies - and where necessary the funding - to get us there, which was what Number 10’s own Strategy Unit had recommended. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) worries that the lack of a formal target sends a negative message that will discourage investors. There’s no clear indication of how different technologies fit into the picture in the government’s mind. And the headline £348 million figure for government spending on renewables over the next four years includes only £60 million in new money. Plenty of unsatisfied noises from the renewables industry.

As for energy efficiency, there is no new policy initiative that really stands out, though what there is, is worthy. We are looking at more of the same on incentives, a somewhat earlier revision of building regulations, working “with our European partners to agree higher standards for consumer and industrial appliances”, and setting an example through energy-efficient government buildings and public procurement.

What does stand proud is the government’s emphatic language on climate change. Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, told the House of Commons that the UK is “on course to achieve our Kyoto commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5% below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. Today, we are making a further commitment to cut UK carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by about 2050 with real progress by 2020. This is the recommendation that was made by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. We are accepting it.”

As to how to do this, apart from its enthusiasm for carbon trading, the IPPR said the White Paper was “chronically short on detail”. There are glaring gaps on tackling transport growth and aircraft emissions. Friends of the Earth commented that these plans “must be accompanied by clear timetables, targets and investment if they are to be achieved”.

However, this did not hold back Tony Blair: in a speech hosted by the Sustainable Development Commission marking the launch of the annual Quality of Life indicators [see p19], the Prime Minister declared: “There will be no lasting peace while there is appalling injustice and poverty. There will be no genuine security if the planet is ravaged by climate change.” Ranking the degradation of the global environment alongside the threat from terrorism, Blair implicitly criticised the Bush administration for ignoring the one while confronting the other. “Look around the world today, and it has to be said the quality of leadership on sustainable development elsewhere falls a little short of inspirational, especially in some of the world's most powerful nations… We can't allow ourselves to be thwarted by this sort of blind, business-as-usual bigotry." His government would continue to make the case, he said, "to the US, and to others, that climate change is a serious threat that we must address together as an international community". He and Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson are presenting a joint plan to the EU, to get the existing 15 and the imminent new eastern European member states to adopt a joint target of 60% lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

And can we take it that the UK, for one, won’t be turning to nuclear power to achieve that? Well, it’s not quite that simple. It was pretty clear that the Energy White Paper was a big disappointment to the nuclear lobby. No new projects, and the promise that it would take “a full public consultation and publication of a further White Paper” to end this moratorium. But Patricia Hewitt still left the door open just a chink, saying that it “does not rule out the possibility that at some point in the future new nuclear build might be necessary if we are to meet our carbon targets”. Hmmm....

Elsewhere in his speech, Blair also insisted that the pursuit of sustainable development need not be at the expense of prosperity: indeed, he insisted, “there are clear economic advantages for Britain in taking the lead”. - Roger East and Martin Wright

24 March 2003

Martin Wright and Roger East