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London Churches Environmental Network - 'The Future of Energy Supplies'

Malcolm Wicks MP,  Minister of State for Energy
Methodist Central Hall, London,  07 July 2008

We’re only a few years into this new century, but I think we can already list three of its major challenges: energy security, climate change and social justice.

Climate change is a global problem, and it clearly requires international solutions. But it goes hand-in-hand with the issues of energy supply and demand, which have emerged as crucial for governments around the world, especially with the current very high oil price.

As we work to address these major challenges, I’m always very conscious that we must remember the weak. There’s an energy revolution underway, and it brings exciting opportunities, but it mustn’t create a new underclass of energy-poor - either people within our own society priced out of the warmth they need, or developing nations having to accept high levels of pollution or to replace the food crops they need with biomass for export.

Climate Change

In this country, I’m pleased to say there is no longer any serious argument over the fundamentals of climate change. The scientific evidence is overwhelming: the climate is changing, and we have to act.

We know that the effects of global warming become extremely severe with a temperature rise of over 2 degrees Celsius, and that much of the world faces a rise of over 4 degrees if we fail to act.

We also know that carbon dioxide emissions are largely to blame, and that fossil fuels used in energy production (including heat and transport) are responsible for the majority of those CO2 emissions.

We also know, thanks to the Stern report, that the cost of action rises exponentially if we wait, with the risk of wiping at least 5% from the global economy each year.

When I visited the British Antarctic Survey team, working with ice cores to study the impact of fossil fuels on the climate, I was struck by their concern, both as scientists and as citizens, about the dramatic changes they’re witnessing, including in terms of sea level.

Sea levels are rising, several millimetres per year, and it is always likely to be the poor who are most at risk. For example, long-term sea-level rise in the 21st century could displace around 17 million people in Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries.

Energy Security

At the same time as this huge climate change challenge, we know that the planet’s reserves of fossil fuels are finite. Global demand for energy is rising dramatically, not least as a result of the success of China and India. Of course, we welcome the success of those countries - but it’s that growth in demand that’s pushed prices up so high.

At the same time, as our own stocks of oil and gas decline, we’re having to import more fossil fuels - and of course oil and gas are concentrated in places like the Middle East and Russia, so there are geopolitical issues too.

Our strategy

Faced with these twin challenges of climate change and energy security, what we have to do is move as quickly as possible to a low-carbon economy.

This means cutting our carbon emissions dramatically while still powering our economy, and taking action now to ensure that the secure energy supplies we’ve enjoyed in the last fifty years are replaced by new but equally secure supplies in the next fifty.

So we are the first Government in the world legislating to impose a binding target for reducing CO2 emissions on ourselves - we’ve committed to a 60% reduction in CO2 by 2050, and will consider tightening that target further.

The EU Emissions Trading Scheme is vital as we work to meet that binding target. It puts a price on carbon, giving industry both an incentive and a mechanism to cut its emissions in the most cost-effective way.

The global carbon market that we want to see in the longer term will help to extend clean technologies to the developing world.

Energy efficiency is vital. What may seem small things - insulating homes so they’re cheaper to heat, replacing light-bulbs with energy-efficient ones, even just turning the TV off rather than leaving it on standby - can make a big difference.

But energy still needs to be generated.

So we’re bringing on low-carbon sources such as renewables and nuclear. This year, we will become the world’s leading country for offshore wind. And we are studying the feasibility of harnessing the tidal power of the river Severn, whose estuary has the second largest tidal range in the world, capable of meeting 5% of the UK’s electricity needs.

And we’re consulting on our strategy to make the further step-change we need in order to meet our share of the EU target of 20% renewable energy by 2020.

Nuclear power is a low-carbon energy source, and we have made clear that companies will have to provide up front for the waste management and decommissioning costs of new plants - so no taxpayer subsidy will be required.
But we also have to be realistic and recognise that we will still be burning fossil fuels for decades to come - and so, more importantly, will countries like India and China.

That’s why we’re leading the way in the search for ways to make these fossil fuels cleaner. We are supporting one of the world’s first demonstration projects for carbon capture and storage, a technology with the potential to capture 90% of carbon emissions from fossil fuel plants.

Finally, as I said, we also have to ensure that the vulnerable do not suffer in an age of high energy prices.

Fuel poverty in the UK reduced year-on-year from 1997, but now the increase in global energy prices is reversing some of our good work in this area. That’s why we are now working harder than ever to address this problem, with a substantial increase of the Winter Fuel Payment this year and a tripling of the money we persuade energy supply companies to spend on social programmes.

The citizen

I’d like to finish by saying a word about the role of the citizen. I think we’re moving into an age of the informed citizen, empowered like never before by technology.

So I hope that people will play an active and informed part in politics and public affairs, applying pressure to local and national Government to make us make the right choices.

I hope we all will take personal action, for example by recycling as much of our waste as possible, by choosing low-carbon products as consumers, by improving the thermal efficiency of our homes, and by taking care with our modes of transport. Perhaps even by installing a wind turbine or some solar panels.

It’s at this local level where I think community groups, and yes, churches, can play a very important role - and with that, I think it’s time to hand over to you.