How to make sense of UK's regressive Renewable Energy policy?
/Cutting back on renewable energy, fracking away to glory, hesitating on carbon capture and storage; to an outsider like me, UK's energy policy seems completely misaligned with its responsibility on climate change and environmental protection. So why is that?
Results of a public survey released by DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) in August 2015 revealed that 75% of British public supports renewable energy but they just don't know it.
We have Matthew Lockwood from the University of Exeter to try and demystify UK's energy policy landscape.
Brief Transcript of the interview below
C. British Government has slashed green policies in the last few months. How does one make sense of it?
M. Areas like taxation of vehicles, green buildings and particularly renewables took a hit. We can make sense of that with the fact that in most cases right of centre Governments don't like renewables. They emphasize on markets playing a bigger role. In the Uk, there are more specific reasons. For instance, solar energy and the costs associated with it seem to be the challenge. Feed in tariffs costs and rent going to big solar farms are other associated reasons. There was a letter from 100 conservative backbenchers which led to removing support from onshore wind technology. So it's a mix of ideology, cost and perceived impacts.
C. What explains the presence of these policies in the first place? .. for them to be reversed subsequently?
M. These policies by and large introduced by the labor Government at the end of the 2000's or under the coalition Govt. The conservatives were dependent on liberal democrats who were supportive of renewable energy but with the latest elections giving the conservatives a majority, it was easy to reverse these policies.
C. We talk of not picking winners with technology but yet we see clear support for nuclear energy and gas for instance. Why such biased support?
M. As an idea that we shouldn't pick winners is an inconsistency. It's two things - with nuclear power, the relation between the UK Government and its chancellor George Osbourne and his relationship with China. He's keen on getting Chinese infrastructure to the U.K and nuclear is part of that game, if you like. The other is that the U.K. Government is not cutting support for all renewables as off shore wind is still receiving support. Further auctions have been signalled for off shore wind. The assessment is that the Government is looking at large scale technologies - nuclear, off shore, gas for instance and have shown their back to small, distributed energy technologies.
C. You say that the nature of political institutions in the U.K is not conducive to strong climate and renewable energy policies. What do you mean by that?
M. If you look at studies across countries and time period, countries that are federalist; proportional representation in their electoral systems; economies with more coordination between companies and Governments (not to do with markets); those kind of countries tend to have strong climate and renewable energy policies. It's easier for green parties, for instance, to get into governing coalitions in those conditions. First past the post or majoritarian electoral system tend to result in right of centre Governments which tend to be less keen on climate and renewables.
But this is just a statistical relationship. It doesn't mean that you can't have a right of centre Government that won't support green policies. Here it is important to differentiate climate and renewable policies. In the U.K., climate seems to get better support because the Government views tackling climate change as reducing emissions but doesn't believe in renewable energy as the solution and instead believes the cheapest way to do so would be to transition from coal to gas.
In an ideal world, we would switch away from coal to gas with an exit strategy for gas.
C. Does the Government have an exit strategy for gas?
M. In the last autumn statement, U.K.'s carbon capture and storage demonstration project support was cut. £1 billion pounds has been cut which shows that though gas is being promoted, there might be a reliance on foreign technology to support CCS projects in the country.
C. On the challenge on short term goals in politics?
M. Politics in general is short term, from election to election. Winner takes all in an electoral system makes it particularly difficult. In countries like Denmark, system of proportional representation creates a political culture of compromise, deals, consensus and the outcomes tend to be more stable.
One way around this for the U.K on climate would be to try and get more consensus through non-parliamentary processes; involving civil society, businesses and political parties in a wider national process of consensus building. France tried this but unsure of their success.
C. What role does the EU play in influencing UK's climate and energy policy?
M. It already plays a big role. Carbon pricing, energy efficiency etc already take place in an EU framework. Bigger politics of the EU is another concern. The EU is currently going through a crisis of confidence; refugee, euro currency, legitimacy of institutions etc all have an impact on the UK. Its arguable that without the EU, UK's climate and energy policy might have been weaker.
C. How does one reconcile long term climate goals and short term political goals ?
M. Doesn't mean much to have a 2050 target. 2030 as a medium target year has come into focus. Short-termism of politics is a serious challenge to making long term climate policy. To be pragmatic, one needs to make climate policy not just about climate change but about other things that have more short term political feedback. Renewable energy policy that provides job, create wealth etc; such a co-benefits approach can help sustain long term climate policy.
C. How does public opinion play out in politics on climate and energy?
M. We haven't paid enough attention to public opinion. Green campaigners sometimes just assume that everyone's like them and the baddies are energy companies. But lets be real; people in the developed world have very high consumption and are not willing to reduce it and that needs to be taken head on.
70-80% people would say they support renewable energy but there is a lack of salience i.e. climate change is a back of the head issue and not a major priority. So we need to figure out how to make climate change more salient; connecting it to jobs, refugees etc.
C. What is the concern of energy security in the British context?
M. This is referred to the energy trilemma. Energy security, energy affordability and climate change constitute this. Import dependence is a part of the security issue but largely its about the country's ability to provide consistent electricity in the long run. What the Government wants to see if greater gas plants that provide backup and greater support to the grid.
C. What are some of the points of intervention for those concerned about climate change to make a dent in UK's climate policy?
M. Skeptical about using climate impacts as a tool to change the climate narrative in the U.K. We need to look at countries like Denmark, Uruguay etc. We need systems to build consensus and arrive at a co-benefits approach to addressing climate change. In China for example, switching away from coal is becoming an issue because of air pollution which is a co-benefit. Climate impacts maybe on its own may not be enough to influence climate policy.
