UK to miss 2020 renewable energy targets

On its current course, the UK government will fail to achieve its 2020 renewable energy targets, according to MPs on the Energy and Climate Change Committee.

The target set out by government is to provide 15 per cent of the UK’s energy needs from renewable sources by 2020. This target includes three sub categories: 30 per cent in electricity, 12 per cent in heat and 10 per cent in transport.

According to the Committee, the UK is three-quarters of the way towards the 30 per cent electricity sub-target and will likely meet the target, but is not yet halfway towards 12 per cent in heat.

In terms of the 10 per cent transport target, the proportion of renewable energy used in transport actually fell last year from 4.93 per cent to 4.23 per cent. The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) has been capped at 4.75 per cent since 2013 and the Committee has recommended that it is raised without delay as it is well below the level needed to meet the 2020 target.

Additionally, the Committee also considered what impact closing the Department of Energy and Climate Change and bundling it into the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) would have. The report concluded that it could enable more joined up thinking on a low-carbon economy, but warned that energy and climate change issues could end up being buried by conflicting concerns.

Angus MacNeil, Energy and Climate Change Committee chair, said: "The experts we spoke to were clear: the UK will miss its 2020 renewable energy targets without major policy improvements. Failing to meet these would damage the UK’s reputation for climate change leadership. The government must take urgent action on heat and transport to renew its efforts on decarbonisation."

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