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Malcolm Wicks MP, Minister of State for Energy
London Hilton Metropole, 18 February 2008
Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon and thank you for inviting me here today to address your conference and mark one hundred years of the National Farmers’ Union.
When a future historian looks back at the 21st century and tries to review and summarise the great themes and questions that confronted our planet and its people, I believe that two issues, among many we can’t yet know, will be climate change and energy security.
At present, these key challenges are almost omni-present in our media.
Just the other day I was listening to Radio 4. The news had just finished and the familiar tones of The Archers’ theme tune started to play. I was just reaching for the ‘off’ button – I must confess that in my household it is my wife who is more The Archers fan – and I suddenly heard the words ‘anaerobic digestion’. I found it difficult not to listen.
This led me to thinking;
What will the ‘farm of the future’ look like and how can farming be part of the fight against climate change?
How can farming help increase levels of secure, sustainable and indigenous energy resources?
The farmer of the future will no doubt be interested in working to bring world-class produce to the market, caring for the countryside and helping to raise standards in animal welfare. In these areas, you are the experts and I have no doubt that you have concrete plans in place to face these challenges.
This afternoon I come to you as the Minister for Energy and I will not pretend to possess expertise in the area of farming. But I do want to add my thoughts on how climate change and energy security will bring new challenges and new opportunities to British farmers.
The UK is showing strong leadership on climate change. It is the first country in the world to set legally binding budgets for its carbon dioxide emissions for every period from now until 2050. The Climate Change Bill sets a clear framework to achieve our long-term target of a 60% cut in the UK’s CO2 emissions by that date, and has set up the Climate Change Committee to advise us on the budgets. The Prime Minister has said that we could aim even higher.
In January the European Commission proposed that the UK’s share of the EU-wide target for 2020 – to source 20% of all EU energy from renewables by that year – be around 15%. That’s 15% of all UK energy, not just electricity.
This draft directive sets very ambitious targets, particularly given that we start from a low base in comparison to our EU neighbours. Currently under 2% of all UK energy comes from renewable sources.
The UK will need to make a concerted effort to meet this EU-wide target and this will include actions which will affect all areas, including the farming sector. We plan to set out our Renewable Energy Strategy in the summer and I would very much welcome the engagement of the farming community. We must get this right and we must meet our share, whatever it will be.
Let me speculate about how my agenda and your business might interact in order to face this challenge.
The Government’s 2007 Biomass Strategy outlined the massive potential for biomass to play a role in meeting our future energy and industrial needs in a sustainable way.
Biomass resources can be used for a range of energy applications including heat, electricity generation, combined heat and power, the production of gaseous and liquid fuels for transport.
Biomass has significant potential to contribute to renewable electricity and carbon abatement. Currently almost 5% of our electricity comes from renewable energy sources with biomass providing around half of that supply.
Generating heat accounts for around half of the UK’s total energy consumption. There are a range of sources for renewable heat, but biomass is the only fuel that can be used over the whole range – from small-scale domestic units to large-scale district heating systems.
In January we launched, through the Office of Climate Change, a Call for Evidence on Heat. The aim of this is help us to increase the levels of renewable energy we get from heat. Details of this area available on the BERR website and I would very much welcome your input.
Another key part of the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive is the demands for Member States to source more transport fuel from biofuels. There is a proposal for an EU-wide target for each member states to source 10% of petrol and diesel from renewable sources such as biofuels. Again, this has the potential to impact upon land usage in British farming.
We must meet this target but we must do it in the most sustainable way. We have always emphasised importance of this, and our support for EU targets for biofuels is conditional on our being satisfied that they can be delivered sustainably. We need your support to ensure that this is the case.
Of course, this is not the only way in which the landscape of rural Britain will no doubt change as we strive to meet our energy challenge.
The changing landscape of rural Britain:
I am sure that many of you will have noticed wind farms springing up in the countryside, if not on or near to your own land, certainly dotted on the surrounding landscape.
Renewable wind power, located in the right places, will contribute significantly to our targets on renewables. The benefits of close access to clean renewable power will be seen across the country.
At this point I must mention the announcement by my Secretary of State earlier this year. He outlined plans for a massive expansion in offshore wind and we soon expect to overtake Denmark as a world leader on offshore wind.
At a more local level, individual farms and rural communities will increasingly be able to make a tangible contribution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions and tackling climate change.
Microgenerators, for example a farm with an anaerobic digestor, or a village hall with solar panels will benefit from greater support from Government.
The changes to the Renewables Obligation, set out in the Energy Bill that is currently going through Parliament, give more support to emerging renewable technologies. This is a win-win situation for both rural communities and the UK’s fight against climate change.
For example, I am reliably informed that if Adam and Debbie from The Archers are able to export electricity from their proposed Anaerobic Digestion plant to the Grid, they will receive the top level of support through the Renewables Obligation.
Farming has a vital role to play in the UK in meeting our climate change targets and increasing our energy security. But this is far more than just hitting targets.
It’s about preserving our environment, helping to assure our rural future by both adapting to change and grasping the opportunities that change presents.
Farming is one of the great and traditional industries of this country; and you all represent that industry. I congratulate you on the NFU’s first 100 years and hope that the next 100 are just as successful.
I very much hope that when the Minister for Energy takes the stage here in 2108, farming may not just feed our country - but also help power it.
