The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan National strategy for climate and energy Five point plan The UK Government has a five point plan to tackle climate change. 1. Protecting the public from 4. Building a low carbon UK immediate risk To play our part in reducing global Climate change is already happening in emissions, Britain needs to become a the UK - the ten hottest years on record low carbon country. The 2008 Climate have all been since 1990. The Government Change Act made Britain the first country has more than doubled spending on in the world to set legally binding ‘carbon flood protection since 1997, developed a budgets’, aiming to cut UK emissions by heat wave plan in the NHS and is helping 34% by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050 communities affected by coastal erosion. through investment in energy efficiency and clean energy technologies such as 2. Preparing for the future renewables, nuclear and carbon capture Whatever is done to reduce emissions and storage. in the future, past emissions mean that This White Paper sets out the UK’s some climate change is already inevitable. transition plan for building a low carbon The UK Climate Projections will be used UK: cutting emissions, maintaining secure to help plan for a future with a changing energy supplies, maximising economic climate. Factoring climate risk into opportunities and protecting the most decision making means, for example, vulnerable. changing the way we build our houses and infrastructure, managing water better 5. Supporting individuals, and adjusting farming practices. communities and businesses 3. Limiting the severity to play their part of future climate change Everyone has a role to play in tackling climate change, from reducing their own through a new international emissions to planning for adaptation. climate agreement Building on our ‘Act on CO2’ information To limit global temperature increases to campaign, the Government is providing no more than two degrees and avoid the a range of support for individuals, most dangerous effects of climate change, communities and businesses, including the Government is leading international a major programme of financial help for efforts to achieve a new international home insulation and energy efficiency. climate agreement at Copenhagen in December. The deal needs to ensure global emissions start to fall within the next decade and be at least 50% below 1990 levels by 2050. The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan National strategy for climate and energy Presented to Parliament pursuant to Sections 12 and 14 of the Climate Change Act 2008 Amended 20th July 2009 from the version laid before Parliament on 15th July 2009. 15 July 2009 £34.55 Amendments to the version laid before Parliament on 15 July 2009 The following corrections have been made: p16-17: 7.5% energy from renewables corrected to sit in 2018, not 2016; over 10% corrected to sit in 2018; and extra circle added to read 15% in 2020. p49: chart 8 title “fossil fuels” corrected to “gas”. p52, p55, p57: 2% corrected to 22%. p78: chart 1 title “%15” corrected to read “13%”. p99: first paragraph, fifth line “bills” corrected to read “prices”. p158: “the Government and” has been inserted between “...EU rules on state aid” and “the Carbon Trust will work to make...” p200: savings from SAFED training for bus drivers corrected to read 0.1 in 2010, not -0.1. p207: zero carbon homes corrected to read 0.2 (2018), 0.3 (2019), 0.3 (2020) and 0.3 (2021). pp208-9: the figures in the Total row have been corrected. p212: Table A8, contribution from workplaces and jobs corrected to read 64 in 2013; contributions from farms, land and waste corrected to read 70 (2008 & 2009), 71 (2010 & 2011), 73 (2015, 2016 & 2017), 69 (2018 & 2019) and 70 (2020, 2021 & 2022). p214: Chart A3 title and labels corrected, consistent with descriptive text. A few other minor typographic errors have also been corrected. © Crown Copyright 2009 The text in this document (excluding the Royal Arms and other departmental or agency logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium providing it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context.The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document specified. Where we have identified any third party copyright material you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. For any other use of this material please write to Office of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU or e-mail: [email protected] ISBN: 9780108508394 Foreword Foreword by Secretary of State The transition to a low-carbon economy will be one of the defining issues of the 21st century. This plan sets out a route-map for the UK’s transition from here to 2020. With the discipline of carbon budgets, legally binding limits on emissions, we plan to drive change in every area: the way we generate energy, the way we heat our homes and workplaces and the way we travel. In Britain, as our own reserves in the North Sea decline, we have a choice: replace them with ever-increasing imports, be subject to price fluctuations and disturbances in the world market and stick with high carbon; or make the necessary transition to low carbon, right for climate change, energy security and jobs. The transition gives us the chance to lead the clean industries of the future. In demonstrating the technology to capture carbon dioxide and lock it away, for example, we can lay the pipes and the infrastructure for new, sustainable industrial hubs, and we gain the engineering knowledge to win contracts installing it in other countries. Across business, we can build up the skills to be more resource- efficient. Like the internet, saving carbon can become part of how business is done: every financial officer knowing their savings and liabilities from carbon, every builder having the skills to build in a way which saves energy. There will be costs to the transition. But they are far outweighed by the costs if we didn’t act and faced the expense of adapting and coping with dangerous climate change. The task for government is to minimise the costs of the low carbon path and spread them fairly. That’s why we are committed to drive forward energy efficiency, ensure tough regulation and provide extra support for the most vulnerable. The transition will show that Britain, while not the biggest country in the world or the largest polluter, can lead in preventing the worst effects of climate change. The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan National strategy for climate and energy The new predictions from the Met Office and other scientists, the most detailed yet, show that the impacts of climate change are not just an issue for other countries and future generations, but an urgent issue for Britain. Making the transition will take strategic action by government and a comprehensive plan. This is that plan. It shows sector-by-sector what savings can be achieved and how every department across government will take responsibility. But the changes cannot be done by government alone. There has been good progress – Britain has already cut 21% of emissions since 1990 but the move to carbon budgets signals a change of pace, and the scale of the task is enormous. So alongside the country’s low carbon transition plan, every business, every community will need to be involved. Together we can create a more secure, more prosperous low carbon Britain and a world which is sustainable for future generations. Ed Miliband Secretary of State of Energy and Climate Change 1 Contents Executive summary 3 Chapter 8: Developing a roadmap to 2050 165 Changes over the next 10 years 16 Chapter 9: Chapter 1: Further action in Northern Ireland, The challenge 21 Scotland and Wales 179 Chapter 2: Driving the transition 35 Annex A: Chapter 3: Table of proposals and policies to Transforming our power sector 51 meet the UK carbon budgets 195 Chapter 4: Annex B: Transforming our homes and Departmental carbon budgets 215 communities 77 Chapter 5: Transforming our workplaces and jobs 111 Top tips 220 Chapter 6: Transforming transport 133 Chapter 7: Transforming farming and managing our land and waste sustainably 151 3 Executive summary 4 The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan National strategy for climate and energy UÊ Introducing clean energy cash-back Summary schemes so that people and businesses will be paid if they use low carbon sources to This White Paper sets out the UK’s first ever generate heat or electricity. comprehensive low carbon transition plan to UÊ Opening a competition for 15 towns, 2020. This plan will deliver emission cuts of cities and villages to be at the forefront of 18% on 2008 levels by 2020 (and over a one pioneering green innovation. third reduction on 1990 levels). Helping the most vulnerable by: Key steps include: UÊ Creating mandated social price support For the first time, all major UK Government at the earliest opportunity with increased departments have been allocated their resources compared to the current voluntary own carbon budget and must produce their system. The Government is minded to own plan. focus new resources particularly on older Getting 40% of our electricity from low pensioners on the lowest incomes. carbon sources by 2020 with policies to: UÊ Piloting a community-based approach to UÊ Produce around 30% of our electricity delivering green homes in low income from renewables by 2020 by substantially areas, helping around 90,000 homes. increasing the requirement for electricity UÊ Increasing the level of Warm Front grants suppliers to sell renewable electricity.