5th Carbon budget due for adoption

5th Carbon budget due for adoption

By the end of the week, the UK Government is due to adopt a fifth carbon budget which will set out emission limits for 2028-2032.

The target which is to be endorsed by the energy secretary Amber Rudd is 57 per cent below 1990 levels, according to an unnamed source quoted by news agency Bloomberg.

As stated by Tom Grimwood of Utility Week, the proposal was put forward by the government’s independent advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), back in November. It recommended that the UK limit carbon emission to 1.765 billion tonnes during the period. In order to meet the target the power sector would need to reach a carbon intensity of less than 100g CO2/kWh in 2030.

According to the CCC, the budget would put the UK “on the path to the 2050 target” of reducing emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels and is “consistent with international and European commitments”. In December world leaders agreed in Paris to legally binding targets to cut emissions by enough to keep the global average temperature less than 2 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial average.

Under the Climate Change Act 2008 the fifth carbon budget must be set no later than 30 June. Although the energy secretary can deviate from the CCC’s recommendation, she must give reasons for doing so. Following a decision on the budget the energy secretary must then set out proposals and policies for meeting the budget.

Source: T.Grimwood – Utility Week..