Government Policy & Targets

What is being done to deal with climate change and how is the adoption of renewable energy being encouraged?

Climate change targets & policies

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the over-arching framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle climate change. With 192 countries on board (including the UK), it enjoys near-universal membership. 

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European Union for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

What is the UK doing about climate change?

The UK Government has made the following commitments to fighting climate change:

  • It has signed up to the Kyoto Protocol which came into force on 16 February 2005. The UK’s target is to achieve a 12.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2008-2012. It is currently on target to doing so.
  • The UK government has also made history by being the first country to set itself a legally-binding target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050 via the Climate Change Act 2008.
  • As a requirement of the Climate Change Act, and to strengthen the long-term policy framework and give UK industry the confidence to invest in low carbon technologies, in its 2009 Budget the UK government introduced the world’s first ‘carbon budget’, which sets a legally-binding 34% reduction in emissions by 2020.

Renewable energy targets

The development and widespread adoption of renewable energy is being encouraged by governments around the world via a variety of policies. With varying natural resources, different countries are emerging as market leaders in specific technologies.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has been set up to foster the growth of renewables around the world.

How is renewable energy being encouraged in the UK?

Renewable energy plays a big part in the UK Government’s targets for reducing CO2. In 2000 it set a target of 10% of electricity supply coming from renewable energy by 2010, and in 2006 it announced the aspiration to double that level by 2020.

In December 2008 the European Union committed itself to generating 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. As part of this commitment by 2020 the UK is obliged to increase its share of energy from renewable sources to15% (EU Member States have differentiated targets).

Renewable energy policies

The Renewables Obligation was introduced by the UK government in 2002. It is seen as the main mechanism for encouraging the uptake of renewable technologies as it encourages licensed electricity suppliers to source a specific and annually increasing percentage of their electricity from renewable sources.

The percentage target began at 3% in 2003. The current level is 10.4% for 2010/2011, rising to 15.4% by 2015/16.

As part of the Energy Act 2008, the Government also intends to stimulate further renewables growth with the introduction of Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) for renewable energy installations of up to 5 megawatts (MW). FITs oblige electricity utilities to buy electricity generated from renewable sources at above market rates, which are set by the government, and were introduced in April 2010.

For further details of these and other policies, please visit the Department for Energy and Climate Change website.