UK backs growth of low carbon cars

15 January 2010

The recession will not deflect the UK Government’s efforts to cut carbon emissions and move to a low carbon economy, said UK Energy and Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband following the Committee on Climate Change’s first annual report on carbon budgets.

Energy Secretary Miliband said that to reduce transport emissions, the UK Government will provide an incentive from 2011 onwards to stimulate early markets in ultra-low carbon cars, make further investment in public transport and support cycling with £140m in investments over a three year period.

One of the key measures set out in the UK Government’s Low Carbon Transition Plan, which was published in July 2009, was a promise to address constraints on finance for investment in the renewable energy industry as a result of the credit crunch. This included a scheme operated by the European Investment Bank to facilitate up to £9bn of investment to support the deployment of a low-carbon infrastructure.

The Climate Change report suggests that the UK is on course to over-achieve on its carbon budgets, with an estimated 36 per cent cut on 1990 levels projected by 2020, said Miliband. However, he insisted that the UK Government will not rely on the reduction in emissions brought about by the economic downturn to meet its climate target, and that over-achievement in the first carbon budget due to the recession will not be carried forward to allow for higher emissions in the future.

Energy Secretary Miliband said, ‘The recession will not deflect the Government’s efforts to cut emissions and move to a low carbon economy. We will not let up on the fight against climate change, instead we must redouble our efforts at home and internationally so the UK emerges from the global downturn building on the opportunities and benefits a low carbon future will bring.’

Miliband added that the UK Government will continue to work to ensure that the energy market framework can deliver the low-carbon investment needed to meet its targets, and will report initial findings at Budget 2010. The UK Government has also pledged to save up to £300m through energy saving measures across the public sector.

The UK lays claim to being the first country in the world to set legally binding carbon budgets, with the first three budgets requiring a 34 per cent cut by 2020. The five-year carbon budgets set the trajectory to the long-term target in the Climate Change Act 2008 to reduce emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050, relative to 1990 levels.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: energy efficiency, low carbon cars

This story was published on Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 11:36 am and is filed under Europe, energy efficiency, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “UK backs growth of low carbon cars”

1. P. Axil says:

   15 January 2010 at 5:17 pm

   I suppose it’s a good move to develop low carbon emission cars as seeing the increased costs of fuel which is used for transportation.

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