APPENDIX 11
Memorandum submitted by The National Physical
Laboratory
ABOUT NPL
1. This submission is by the National Physical
Laboratory (NPL). NPL is the UK's dominant National Measurement
Institute (NMI) and the DTI's largest directly owned science and
technology (S&T) asset. NPL is a multi-disciplinary S&T
organisation with broad S&T capability, combined with extensive
capability and experience in Knowledge Transfer. NPL's core mission
is to underpin the National Measurement System (NMS), ensuring
measurements are consistent, achieve an accuracy fit for purpose
throughout the UK and are internationally accepted. Our role is
to deliver world-class measurement S&T, to provide measurement
and standards infrastructure for the UK and to maximise the impact
that this science and infrastructure has on the UK economy and
quality of life. NPL is active in a range of areas of S&T
directly relevant to climate change, in collaboration with academia
and industry. The direction and content of our work programmes
are shaped by regular interaction and consultation with both the
public and private sector, including central government. NPL is
managed and operated by Serco.
SUMMARY
2. Given NPL's capability, this brief submission
focuses on issues of S&T, particularly highlighting three
issues around the EAC's interest in cross-departmental strategies
and the availability of science and technical expertise in government.
These are:
— The need for a consistent and
integrated cross-departmental approach to ensuring rapid demonstration
and deployment of technologies born from R&D.
— The need for cross-departmental
action to ensure that a transparent and well enforced system of
measuring and reporting emissions is in place to underpin carbon
trading.
— The need for both relevant broad
S&T capability inside government departments and more specialist
S&T capability to provide evidence for and support implementation
of policy. Government could do more to better utilise existing
capability for the latter.
ENCOURAGING APPLCIATION
AND UPTAKE
OF S&T
3. The Stern Review[8]
clearly highlighted that "effective action on the scale
required to tackle climate change requires a widespread shift
to new improved technology in key sectors such as power generation,
transport and energy use" In the UK, the greatest challenge
for government will be to provide the leadership and discipline
required to ensure the prioritisation of the development of new
low carbon technological solutions. This will require the re-direction
of significant amount of resources from lower priority areas and
an improvement in both volume and rate of demonstration and deployment
of technology built on R&D.
4. Successful development of low carbon
energy technologies as well as carbon mitigation technologies
will require effective transfer of research results from the bench
to the market place through the development of reliable products
and services. The UK has a strong record of knowledge generation
by the universities through Research Council support from the
OSI in DTI. Furthermore, application of such knowledge for the
development of industrial products and processes is enhanced in
key technology areas by the DTI through the Technology Strategy
Board providing valuable support for collaborative research programmes
between the science base and industry. The DTI, through its National
Measurement Systems (NMS) Programme, also provides support for
the generic development of metrology that underpins the reliability
of manufacture and performance of industrial products. Like metrology,
standards are also vital for new products to succeed in the market
and BSI works closely with industry and Government to initiate
the necessary standardisation activities nationally and internationally.
5. A very important factor for the UK to
succeed in commercial development and use of new technologies
will be the establishment of an integrated and balanced approach
for the whole development cycle starting from the generation of
new scientific and technological knowledge to exploitation. Thus
support provided by the various arms of the DTI should be co-ordinated
and balanced and closely integrated with the work of Defra who
has the lead responsibility for regulation and their implementation.
In fact, there is a clear role for Government to use its public
purchasing policies and regulations to pull through innovation
of environmental technologies.
CROSS-DEPARTMENTAL
ACTION TO
UNDERPIN CARBON
TRADING
6. The Stern Review8 clearly articulates
the need to move to a situation where "carbon pricing
is universally and automatically factored into decision-making".
The review also makes it clear that "a transparent and
well enforced system of measurement and reporting emissions is
crucial for securing the environmental credibility of a scheme
as well as free trade across plant. Monitoring, reporting and
verification rules ensure that a tonne of carbon emitted or reduced
in one plant is equal to a tonne of carbon emitted or reduced
in a different plant." In order for this to be a politically
and economically viable option, it will need to be based on a
robust, scientifically sound, consistent and internationally accepted
framework for measurement and/or assessment of CO2 and other GHG
emissions.
7. Government action to reduce carbon emissions
from industry is currently centred on the (Emission Trading Scheme)
ETS and reducing carbon allocations of the big emitters. Verification
of the reduction in carbon emissions needs to be robust and transparent
and it is not clear at present which Department will be responsible
for this activity. Operation of the ETS is the responsibility
of Defra, and close co-operation between the DTI and Defra will
be needed to ensure that the ETS is operated in a transparent
and robust manner if this split in responsibility continues.
8. The pollution emissions from smaller
establishments are currently overseen by local authorities and
at some point these establishments will need to be brought into
the ETS. Sectors which do not emit traditional pollutants but
which have substantial carbon emissions eg supermarkets and hotels,
may be a local or a national responsibility. Bringing these industries
into the ETS will require substantial extra effort from the Department
responsible. Reducing carbon emissions from transport will also
be key to reducing overall carbon emissions. It is not clear how
this will be implemented, but road pricing is a potential mechanism,
or it may be possible to bring transport into the ETS at the local
level.
9. In all cases it will be necessary to
ensure that there is technical (including measurement) and standards
underpinning of verification and monitoring integrated with the
financial and administrative instruments. It is known that the
present approach, based primarily on calculation, is subject to
considerable uncertainty. As the price of carbon increases such
systems will be subject to greater scrutiny and challenge from
those who are expected to pay.
AVAILABILITY OF
SCIENTIFIC AND
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
10. S&T has and will continue to play
a vital role in understanding, monitoring, mitigation of and adaptation
to climate change. Hence the importance of science and technical
expertise for Departments of State.
11. In general Departments of State have
a limited requirement for highly specialised S&T staff, but
do have a clear need for staff with sufficient training in S&T
to carry out three functions:
— to assess the scientific evidence
base and use it in shaping policy;
— to understand the S&T implication
of policy and use it to procure or shape S&T activity in the
public and private sector; and
— to sufficiently understand the
UK science base that they are able to identify S&T capability
to provide the specialist S&T needed for the above policy
development or implementation.
12. In the case of the last of these functions
Government could do more to maximise the value of the capability
it already supports, particularly in its National Laboratories.
In general Departments are familiar with the capability that they
"own" (either directly or as agencies/arms length bodies),
but are less familiar and hence make less use of the capability
"owned" by another Department. An interesting contrast
is between US National Laboratories, where the norm is for their
capability to be engaged in programmes in support of and funded
by more than one State Department, and the UK where National Laboratories
are focussed almost exclusively on work funded directly by the
Department that "owns" them.
13. A recent strategic review of the National
Measurement System[9]
looked at one way to partly address this issue in their area when
it recommended that the DTI's NMS Directorate formulated an explicit
external engagement strategy to make connections and strengthen
relationships with other parts of DTI and other Government Departments
in order that this "silo" effect could be broken down
and the capability of NPL and its sister NMIs could be have greater
impact across Government. These recommendations are now being
implemented and, it is hoped, will start to facilitate the increased
coordination and impact they set out to achieve.
14. Such a step is clearly welcome but broader
action to facilitate greater awareness of existing capability
and cross-funding of S&T between Departments will be needed
if the maximum benefit is to be gained from Governments investment
and S&T is to be harnessed to mitigate and adapt to climate
change.
15. NPL would be happy to discuss further
these issues of facilitating uptake of S&T, the measurement
infrastructure for carbon trading and making the maximum use of
governments existing S&T capability.
May 2007
8 The Economics of Climate Change. Nicholas Stern.
CUP, 2006. Back
9
Strategic Review of the UK National Measurement System (NMS).
DTI December 2005. http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file32845.pdf Back
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