The speech outlines that legislation will be brought forward to support carbon capture and storage (CCS) and to help more of the most vulnerable households with their energy bills. Her Majesty said in her speech that the government will seek global and European collaboration through the G20 and the European Union to sustain economic recovery and to combat climate change, including at the Copenhagen summit next month.
Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary of the UK, said: “Carbon capture and storage is a key technology to tackle climate change, and 18 days ahead of the crucial talks in Copenhagen, this bill sets up a new CCS Incentive to support the development of up to four commercial-scale CCS projects in the UK.”
Reportedly, the bill, which follows on from the UK government’s Low Carbon Transition Plan, is expected to give the energy regulator Ofgem more power to intervene on behalf of energy consumers.
The Low Carbon Transition Plan plots how the UK will meet the 34% cut in emissions on 1990 levels by 2020. The plan sees around 40% of electricity to be from low-carbon sources, from renewables, nuclear and clean coal, by 2020.
The 2008 Climate Change Act also aims to set legally binding ‘carbon budgets’ to cut UK emissions by at least 80% by 2050 through investment in energy efficiency and clean technologies.
