The pledge to make a 30% cut in EU emissions is part of the UK government’s initiative to encourage low carbon investment.
The UK government, which plans to make reforms to the Climate Change Levy to provide greater certainty and support to the carbon price in the UK, will promote low-carbon energy generation through further reforms in the energy market, to be introduced in the next Energy Bill.
The government also proposes to create a Green Investment Bank to help the UK meet the low carbon investment challenge.
Chris Huhne, energy and climate secretary of the UK said: “We’re determined to make the economic case for the EU to cut its emissions by 30% by 2020 as quickly as possible. Moving to a low carbon economy can help deliver energy security and contribute to economic recovery.
“The current 20% target is not sufficient to encourage companies to make the necessary investment in green technologies and green jobs. The ‘wait and see’ policy of sticking to 20% risks putting Europe in the global slow lane of maximising low carbon economic opportunities.”
