Green Party leader Caroline Lucas has criticised the government for its U-turn on emissions performance standards for power stations, announced today by Chris Huhne in his proposals to reform the UK energy market.
Caroline Lucas MP said today:
“The scale of the government’s most recent U-turn is now clear for all to see. When in opposition, both David Cameron and George Osborne promised they would back an emissions performance standard that would have restricted gas emissions from coal and gas plants to the level of a modern gas plant – in other words, around 300-400 grammes of CO2 per Kilowatt hour.
“Now they are in government, they are consulting on a level of between 450 or 600 grammes CO2/kwh. This is no better than what was agreed under Labour, and up to double what the coalition parties agreed before the election, and it simply isn’t enough to drive the transition to a genuinely low carbon economy.
The Brighton Pavilion MP continued:
“Moreover, the continuing reliance on nuclear undermines the potential to shift to renewables, since it is likely to be the prime beneficiary of the proposed carbon floor price. Nuclear is not low carbon – from uranium mining through to nuclear waste management, the nuclear fuel cycle is responsible for significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. The government’s failure to recognise this will therefore result in a backdoor nuclear subsidy. A windfall tax on nuclear, like that levied in Germany, would go some way to correcting this.
Caroline Lucas concluded:
“Demand reduction measures were conspicuous by their absence in today’s announcements – yet a much greater promotion of energy efficiency and conservation are central to the solution.”