ETI responds to Energy and Climate Change Committee Inquiry into Setting the Fifth Carbon Budget

In the response the ETI says it agrees with the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) advice on the level of the Fifth Carbon Budget and points out that its own analysis of the most cost effective pathway for a UK low carbon energy transition, points to a 2030 level of UK emissions very similar to that recommended by the CCC in its advice to the government.

ETI’s own whole energy system analysis highlights some areas that might want to be considered to complement the advice suggested by the CCC.

These include:

A stronger emphasis on the importance of progress in CCS before 2030 – the CCC’s advice implies that the importance of CCS mainly relates to achieving the UK’s 2050 targets. ETI analysis also shows that it is a technology vitally important for minimising costs and risks associated with the UK’s decarbonisation pathway even in the period before 2030.  The success or failure to deploy CCS in the UK will have a fundamental influence on the decisions and costs around long-term infrastructure and energy system architecture, so ETI feels it is vital (and prudent) to achieve greater clarity on this before 2030.  ETI would advise the government that it should give priority and emphasis to promoting commercial scale deployment of CCS before 2030 as a cost reduction demonstration measure, as recommended in a recent submission to the Energy and Climate Change select committee.

A stronger emphasis on building a UK bioenergy sector in the period to 2030 – ETI analysis points to the importance of bioenergy as one of the two (alongside CCS) most important system-wide opportunities to reduce CO2 emissions cost-effectively.  ETI modelling highlights Bioenergy could provide up to 10% of the UK’s primary energy needs by 2050, with the majority of this sourced domestically thereby substantially reducing the costs of meeting carbon targets and significantly growing the agricultural bio-crop industry in the UK.  ETI would advise the government to give the development of the UK bioenergy sector a greater emphasis. 

A measured approach to the decarbonisation of transport, particularly light transport pre-2030 – we agree with the CCC’s advice around the need to continue efficiency improvement in vehicles by shifting towards ultra-low emission (e.g. electric and plug in hybrid) vehicles.  ETI would caution that a rush to decarbonise transport, particularly light transport, could risk imposing significantly higher costs on UK consumers and businesses.   

ETI’s response also considers five key challenges it believes that the government will face in meeting the fifth carbon budget.

These are:

• Reconciling the Fifth Carbon Budget with the current thrust of energy policy – that has placed an emphasis on developing new gas capacity
• Developing and implementing a new strategy for the timely commercial deployment of CCS
• Allocating limited resources efficiently for the maximum decarbonisation benefit at the lowest cost
• Limiting potential risks by investing in the preparedness of a portfolio of low carbon options
• Reforming the governance and regulation of UK network infrastructure

Details of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee’s Inquiry can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/energy-and-climate-change-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/setting-fifth-carbon-budget/

The ETI response can be found at http://www.eti.co.uk/eti-submission-to-the-ecc-committee-inquiry-on-setting-the-5th-carbon-budget/