Report condemns UK energy approach
Monday, 04 Jun 2007 08:04
Energy strategy condemned by new report
Britain's approach to energy supply and security is destined to fail, a report from Oxford University has warned.
A high-level taskforce says government policy on climate change and development aid is an "incoherent hotch-potch" of conflicting ideologies.
Today's report warns that the UK's energy policy, when coupled with its goals on climate change and global poverty risks, could "create new enemies for Europe, new threats to energy supply, greater damage and worse poverty in the poorest parts of the world".
But the panel of academics and UN officials, as well as business and environment advisers, insists that all three aims could be simultaneously achieved through a more coherent EU approach.
"Britain's energy policy just doesn't stack up. It won't deliver security. It won't deliver on our commitments on climate change. It falls short of what the world's poorest countries need," taskforce chair Lord Patten argued.
"The government's latest energy review underlines that the UK has a set of energy policies that don't stack up. We need energy policies which step up to our commitments to address climate change and global poverty."
According to the report, Britain's failure to develop assistance policies and help poorer countries deal with climate change could create a new scramble for resources in Africa, although it acknowledges the country's commitment of "very significant resources to alleviating global poverty".
Among other warnings issued is that the EU has failed to develop a "unifying" response to Russia's increasingly politically-motivated energy policy.
Dr Kevin Watkins, director of the UN's Human Development Report Office, contends that Britain is "failing" to respond to climate change, which he notes is the "defining" challenge of the 21st century.
"Current policies suffer from two fundamental flaws. First, the targets set for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the climate change bill are not ambitious enough," he said.
"If other countries followed Britain's lead, dangerous climate change would be inevitable.
"Second, setting targets is not a substitute for reforming energy policy – and Britain has yet to define the energy policies that will take us towards a low carbon future."