The UK looks set to miss a key renewable energy target, campaigners have warned, in the latest sign that the Government is backsliding on the fight against global warming. As Angela Merkel prepares to lead attempts to take climate science denier Donald Trump to task at the forthcoming G20 summit in Germany, Whitehall officials quietly published a report revealing that Britain is falling behind. Despite having the relatively low target of getting 15 per cent of all energy – including electricity, domestic heating and transport – from renewables by 2020, the UK still has more ground to make up than all other European Union countries except three. The report, which is the latest update on progress, said the UK had reached 8.9 per cent in 2016 and admitted hitting the 2020 target would be challenging. Leonie Greene of industry body Solar Trade Association said the figures underlined “how big a challenge it will be to meet the UK 2020 renewables target, which is modest by European standards”. “It’s clear renewable energy now needs some serious ministerial attention,” she added. The sector was not seeking further taxpayers’ money, Ms Greene stressed. “For solar we are not even asking for new subsidies – simply a fair and level playing field with other generation technologies.” Alasdair Cameron, a renewable energy and climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said there was a danger that other countries think the UK was cosying up the US President, who has decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Independent 30th June 2017 read more »