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Climate change and energy supply must stay top of agenda, even when times are tough - CBI chief
25
June
2008
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CBI sets out ideas for next phase of EU's emissions trading
The economic slowdown should not distract politicians from taking urgent action to tackle climate change and secure the UK’s future energy supply, the CBI’s Director-General, Richard Lambert, will say today (Monday) in a speech to Siemens sustainability conference.
Richard Lambert will put energy and the environment at the top of business’s long-term priorities, describing alternative energy sources as "an economic opportunity on a scale that has not been seen before".
According to the CBI Director-General, the UK has four key priorities for sustainability: improving energy efficiency; getting the next phase of the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) right; reforming the UK’s planning process to increase access to low carbon energy; and keeping security of energy supply and economic competitiveness on the climate change agenda.
In a new report published today, the CBI is calling on European policymakers to take steps necessary for business to give its full support to the third phase of ETS, the scheme designed to help tackle climate change by putting an overall cap on carbon emissions.
Commenting on its proposals, Richard Lambert will say: "Getting to this point has been a huge achievement for Europe. Our ideas for the next phase of ETS, which kicks in after 2012, are intended above all to ensure Phase 3 of Emissions Trading delivers the tough carbon reductions we know we have to have and which we believe are achievable.
"In doing this, the proposals provide a degree of certainty for business planning, show that emissions can be reduced without damaging competitiveness and support the growth of international carbon markets."
To give the next phase of ETS the best chance of success, the CBI argues there are four elements which the EU must deliver:- A tough emissions cap, based on the EU’s 2020 greenhouse gas targets
- A wider use of auctioning for allocating emissions permits
- Free allocation retained for those sectors who can make an evidence-based case that having to pay for permits would make them vulnerable to ‘carbon leakage’ - where production and jobs move outside the EU to plants which exploit the lack of carbon costs payable in other countries
- Enable companies to buy some permits from emission reduction projects outside the EU to help emissions trading spread through the wider international community
Changes to the planning system to be debated in the Commons this week - especially the creation of an Independent Planning Commission - are vital "if the UK is to have any chance of meeting its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and if we are to ensure that we are able to meet our energy security needs", Richard Lambert will say.
"To meet our climate change targets, we believe we may need several new nuclear stations consented by 2020, and over 40 large offshore windfarms. Put simply, we don’t believe the existing planning system can deal with so many complex, controversial planning applications in time."
Commenting on the need for politicians to balance threats to the UK’s electricity supply with environmental concerns, Richard Lambert will say: “Last week, David Cameron made an important speech about the economy and the environment. There was a strong and welcome message that the economic slowdown was no reason for going slow on the sustainability message.
"He had a number of good ideas, such as taking money from auctioned ETS credits to fund demonstration projects for carbon capture and storage. But when it came to new energy sources, the emphasis was on the need for decentralised energy, micro generation and tidal power - important stuff but not the source of major mitigation required in the crucial next decade.
"We need more investment in carbon capture and storage the source of such high hopes for policymakers and generating companies alike. The technology needs to be tested at scale and its costs need to be brought down if it is to play any significant role much before 2030."
In his speech, Richard Lambert will also announce the formation of the CBI’s Climate Change Board, to be chaired by former CEO of BT Ben Verwaaywen. The Board represents a cross-section of CBI membership and will oversee an extensive programme of work.
Over the coming year, the new Climate Change Board will be drawing up proposals on; - green taxes
- low carbon innovation
- reporting corporate carbon emissions.
www.cbi.org.uk |
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