Utility Week

12 | 7TH - 13TH JUNE 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Policy & Regulation Energy Summit preview Denise Chevin speaks to Dr David Jo e, one of the authors of the CCC's net zero emissions report. L ast month the latest report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) reset the bar on tacking greenhouse gas emissions. It concluded that plummeting costs of o shore wind and solar mean that a net zero carbon target is now achievable by the middle of the century without costing any more than the 1 to 2 per cent of GDP to meet the current target of an 80 per cent car- bon reduction by 2050. The CCC said the foundations are in place throughout the UK and the policies required to deliver key pillars of a net-zero economy are already active or in development. Busi- ness and energy secretary Greg Clark has pledged to transpose this target into law, although not immediately. The CCC also said Scotland should aim to become carbon neu- tral ‰ ve years earlier in 2045. Shortly a‹ er- wards, the Scottish government unveiled dra‹ legislation to set this as a legally bind- ing target. Policymakers and industry are in no doubt about the challenges and choices that lie ahead. Evidently, they will have to ramp up their policies signi‰ cantly for a net-zero emissions target to be credible, and for that to happen, public engagement is paramount. Before his talk about the report at next week's summit, we asked one of the report's authors, Dr David Jo e, team leader at the UK Committee on Climate Change, about some of these challenges. How can the costs be spread fairly? The CCC recommends that the Treasury reviews how the remaining costs of achiev- ing net zero can be managed in a fair way for consumers and businesses. The tumbling costs of renewables and electric car take- up should save the country money by 2030. The problem will be decarbonising heat in a way that means those on the lowest incomes don't su er disproportionately, and similarly with the cost of transition. Says Jo e: "Traditionally the cost of decarbonisation has gone into fuel bills. But that's a choice – we don't have to do that, that's just how we've done it so far. We don't have the answer, and we don't think it's up to us to come up with the answer." He points to heating as an especially thorny issue: the costs are relatively high, and the technologies are unfamiliar to peo- ple and who will pay for it. "Those three things mean that the more we've looked at it, the more di› cult it's become. It's prob- ably the biggest single challenge across the energy system," he says. One of the ‰ nancial mechanisms that hasž been Ÿ oated by the CCC to drive the decarbonisation of heat is to put a tax on natural gas. But, again, this could load costs on those who can least a ord it. "If we can get our act together on energy e› - ciency, it may be that although the price of energy will be higher, people will end up with the same or even lower bills by 2030 orž2035. "We need to be very careful of the impact on consumers. If it was replaced by hydro- gen, that's a more expensive gas, and it's di› cult to see how we could make that as cheap as natural gas for consumers." The sector speaks Climate change will dominate the agenda at Utility Week's EnergySummit on 13 June. Denise Chevin reports. Source: Adapted from CCC (2015) Fifth Carbon Budget Advice Based on DECC (2015) Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics: 1990 - 2013 ; CCC analysis Source: BEIS (2019) 2017 Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Final Figures; CCC analysis THE UK'S EXISTING LONG-TERM EMISSIONS TARGET (SET IN 2008) HAS GUIDED THE SETTING OF EARLIER TARGETS AND ACTIONS TO DELIVER THEM THE SCALE OF THE EMISSION REDUCTION CHALLENGE FOR THE EXISTING 80% 2050 TARGET 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 Allowance for IAS Statutory 2050 target allowing for IAS emissions Legislated carbon budgets Cost-effective path to 2050 Historical emissions 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1990 2017 2050 International aviation & shipping (IAS) F-gases Waste Agriculture & LULUCF Transport Buildings Industry Power Non-IAS sectors 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 Annual emissions (MTCO2e) MTCO2e

• Cover