1 INTRODUCTION
1. The contraction of the global economy over
the last two years has been referred to internationally as the
deepest recession in living memory. Governments across the world
have responded by injecting money into troubled financial institutions,
and have sought to stimulate economic growth with their own variations
of a 'green stimulus' package for the low carbon sectors. The
Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) told us that "the
move to a low carbon economy can make a significant contribution
to economic growth and job creation in Britain, not only as part
of the short term economic recovery, but also through sustainable
growth over the decades to come."[1]
In this inquiry we decided to take a broad look at the spectrum
of low carbon technologies that could contribute to the UK's transition
to a greener economy; we examine their potential to stimulate
economic growth and job creation; and we make recommendations
designed to ensure these technologies reach their full potential.
2. In addition to invigorating the economy, any
green stimulus package in the UK will also support the Government's
ambitious climate change targets, which were passed into law through
the Climate Change Act 2008. This introduced a legally binding
target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 34% below 1990 levels
by 2020, and to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The Government
has also committed the UK to producing 15% of energy from renewable
sources by 2020, as part of an EU target for 20% renewable energy
by 2020. To achieve this, the Department of Energy and Climate
Change's lead scenario suggests more than 30% of electricity,
12% of heat, and 10% of transport energy could be generated from
renewables.[2]
3. Despite the recent lack of success at the
UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to achieve a wider
global agreement on greenhouse gas emissions reduction, there
is still an appetite for investment in low carbon technologies
in anticipation of a future international deal. Such investment
would accelerate the move towards a decarbonised energy supply,
improve energy security, and promote more sustainable economic
growth. Whilst we are fully supportive of the Government's efforts
to secure a global deal, we feel it is important to lead by example
and pursue policies that will ensure we meet our own targets.
Indeed, the Government's independent advisers, the Committee on
Climate Change, in their first annual report to Parliament concluded
that a step change will be needed to achieve deep emissions cuts
required through the first three carbon budget periods and beyond.[3]
In this report we focus on the low carbon technologies that will
have the biggest impact on our current emissions targets.
4. We received 48 submissions of written evidence,
for which we are grateful.[4]
We also held eight oral evidence sessions during our inquiry.[5]
We would like to express our thanks to all those who contributed
to our evidence-gathering. We particularly thank Dr Gregory Offer
who joined us from Imperial College London for three months, sponsored
by the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, and who provided
much appreciated expert advice.
5. We visited Berlin and Copenhagen where we
met policy makers and industry representatives with expertise
in low carbon technologies. We spoke with Germany's Federal Environment
Ministry (BMU), the Berlin-based Renewables Academy (RENAC), the
Danish Energy Agency, the Danish Energy Association, the Ministry
of Climate and Energy, the Metropolitan Copenhagen Heating Transmission
Company, Denmark's leading energy company—DONG Energy, Vestas
Wind Systems and the Danish Council of Environmental Economics.
6. We also visited California, a region known
for its ground-breaking climate change policies, to speak with
climate change policy makers, academics and leaders in innovation.
We met representatives of the Institute of the Environment at
UCLA, the Port of Los Angeles, the National Fuel Cell Research
Center at UC Irvine, the California Energy Commission, Governor
Schwarzenegger and senior environmental staff at the State Capitol,
the California Chamber of Commerce, the Electric Power Research
Institute, Stanford University Precourt Institute for Energy and
the Global Climate and Energy Project, and a smart grid technology
company—Silver Spring Networks.
7. This Report takes an overview of the low carbon
technology landscape. It broadly covers the areas of energy generation,
storage, transmission, use and efficiency. It draws on our first
three Reports as a new select committee, UK offshore oil and
gas[6], The future
of Britain's electricity networks[7]
and The proposals for national policy statements on energy[8],
whilst also touching on material that we will cover in more detail
in our imminent Report, Fuel poverty. We hope that our
successor committee will look at the issues raised in this Report
and follow up with more detailed inquiries into areas of particular
interest.
1 Ev 174, para 1 [Department of Energy and Climate
Change] Back
2
HM Government, The UK Renewable Energy Strategy, July
2009, p 8 Back
3
Committee on Climate Change, Meeting Carbon Budgets-the need
for a step change, progress report to Parliament, October
2009, p 14 Back
4
List of written evidence, p 96 Back
5
Witnesses, p 94 Back
6
Energy and Climate Change Committee, First Report of Session
2008-09, UK offshore oil and gas, HC 341-I Back
7
Energy and Climate Change Committee, Second Report of Session
2009-10, The future of Britain's electricity networks,
HC 194-I Back
8
Energy and Climate Change Committee, Third Report of Session
2009-10, The proposals for national policy statements on energy,
HC 231-I Back
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