UK Climate Change Programme 2006 - JNCC - Defra

Energy supply
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therefore assessing options on both the supply and
demand side for energy. It does not mean pulling
back from the priorities set out in the White Paper,
notably on encouraging renewable energy and
energy efficiency, but it does include looking again
at nuclear power. The Review is also considering
whether the UK should do more to improve the
conditions for other low carbon technologies to
come forward. The Review will also examine what
role carbon capture and storage might play in
ensuring we can continue to use fossil fuels,
particularly coal, while also reducing emissions.
expected to decline further, falling to around 41
MtC by 2010, a reduction of 26 per cent below
1990 levels, as older coal plant is retired and the
proportion of electricity supplied from renewables
increases. Although high gas prices have made
coal stations more competitive in the past few
years, pushing emissions back up, new gas-fired
power stations are expected to replace some of
the existing coal capacity as it reaches the end of
its economic life or its closure is accelerated by
other environmental legislation, such as the EU
Large Combustion Plants Directive.
Electricity generation
EU emissions trading scheme
12. There has been a significant change in the way
that electricity is generated in the UK since 1990,
and this has been an important contributor to
reductions in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
There has been a shift away from more carbon
intensive fuels such as coal and oil towards lower
or zero carbon emission fuels such as gas, nuclear
and renewables.
TWh
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
UK electricity generation 1990-2010
1990 2000
Coal
Gas
Nuclear
2010 2020
Renewables
Other
13. Emissions from power stations have steadily
decreased over the recent past – by around 26 per
cent between 1990 and 2004. This is against a
general rise in the demand for electricity, of some
24 per cent over the same period. Emissions are
14. The inclusion of the electricity industry in the EU
emissions trading scheme (covered in detail in the
next chapter) has also begun to provide generators
and suppliers with direct incentives to reduce
emissions. The scheme covers all emissions from
the generation of electricity which is supplied to
the grid and therefore, by association, the use of
electricity by homes and businesses. Over time, it
should provide incentives for investment in lower
carbon forms of generating capacity.
15. The Government will explore how it can provide
the generators with more certainty about the
contribution it expects the scheme to make to
longer-term emissions reductions and how it could
allocate allowances in ways that encourage the
investment that is needed.
16. The Government has decided that the overall
cap for the second phase of the EU emissions
trading scheme should be set within a range
which would achieve average annual
emission reductions of between 3.0 and
8.0 MtC. In the draft National Allocation Plan,
the Government proposes that the reductions in
allowances against business as usual would be
borne entirely by the electricity supply industry,
which is relatively insulated from international
competition and is able to pass on the costs of
carbon to customers.