Recommendations
10. Unless
the Government is prepared to make that commitment [to make fuel
poverty a thing of the past] and show how it will be delivered,
the changes to the fuel poverty definition and target, in part
being made through amendments to the Energy Bill, should be stopped.
(Paragraph 27)
11. If the ['green
levies'] review finds some levy savings in energy bills, perhaps
by shifting them to general taxation, the imperative for energy
efficiency measures must remain the priority because of the underlying
need to tackle climate change by reducing our emissions. (Paragraph
28)
12. To aid transparency, if the Government introduces its proposed new measure of fuel poverty, it should also continue to publish statistics on the current metric for the remainder of this Parliament, alongside the new figures. In the Autumn Statement, the Government should make clear how any changes to green levies will change the amount that those in fuel poverty will have to pay, by how much and how soon.
(Paragraph 29)
13. DfID should make, and publish, an assessment that compares its aid expenditures and the extent of fossil fuel subsidies for each aid-recipient country, and UK Export Finance should similarly provide a comparative analysis of export finance support and fossil fuel subsidies. DfID should then include these analyses in a revision of its Environment Strategy, along with the two departments' assessment of why continued aid and export support in each case overrides the need for eliminating fossil fuel subsidies in those countries.
(Paragraph 36)
14. While the Government
has a helpfully positive view on the need to increase the level
of emissions reduction ambition in the EU, it should rethink its
hostility to a separate continued target for the deployment of
renewables. Even without such a continued EU target, however,
the Government should be ready to fully use the scope for renewables
subsidies to help meet our climate change obligations. (Paragraph
42)
15. The Government must use the Autumn Statement as an opportunity to provide a clear and comprehensive analysis of all energy subsidies in the UK, to present its methodology and calculations, and to show how these figures differ from those produced using the methodologies of the main international institutions. This would bring much needed transparency and provide a basis for an overdue debate on the rationale and justifications for energy subsidies in the UK. It would also provide an evidence base for developing and refining policies for tackling climate change.
(Paragraph 68)
16. We do not believe there
is any case for treating subsidies to mature energy technologies
where there is little likelihood of cost reduction in the future
in the same way as technologies that can, over time, compete in
the market place without long-term subsidy. We consider that the
Government should present a case for subsidy, and hence for the
application of EU state aid rules, separately for each energy
category. (Paragraph 69)
17. More fundamentally, the Government needs to demonstrate leadership in increasing the deployment of renewables and in promoting energy efficiency through the careful and targeted use of subsidies and levies, to provide certainty over the longer term for the investment in the technologies that these will depend on. In the Autumn Statement, the Government should make a start on that path by making it clear which minister and which department will be responsible for fully delivering our climate change obligations in a way that avoids maintaining harmful fossil fuel subsidies and protects the fuel poor.
(Paragraph 70)
18. The Government should also use the Autumn Statement to introduce a new target: to reduce the proportion of energy subsidies that support fossil fuel, rather than low-carbon, consumption.
(Paragraph 71)
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