EU climate package to cost UK £9bn per year
Monday, 13 Oct 2008 08:34
The EU climate package will apparently cost the UK £9 billion a year by 2020
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The EU climate package will cost the UK £9 billion a year by 2020, a report has claimed.
A study by Open Europe published today claims that the cost of the package as a whole for the European Union will be more than €73 billion (£57.8 billion) per year.
The package set out a 20 per cent target for overall greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2020, includes binding targets for 20 per cent of energy to be sourced from renewables and for ten per cent of transport fuels to come from biofuels.
Under the proposals the UK would have to source some 40 per cent of electricity from renewable sources, up from under 5 per cent at present, the thinktank claims.
Today's report claims that the rising costs of the package would lead to an increase in fuel poverty as it would add £130 to £200 a year to the annual domestic energy bill for a family of four in Britain.
Open Europe claims the EU's proposals are an "overpriced solution to climate change".
Hugo Robinson, Open Europe research director said: "At a time of rising energy bills and worries over the economy, the EU's climate change package is the last thing that hard-pressed consumers need.
"Now more than ever, it should be obvious that we need to reduce carbon emissions as efficiently and cheaply as possible - but the EU proposals are extremely bad value for money. This means we will pay far more than necessary in fighting climate change; or put another way, we could spend the same amount of money and reduce emissions by a lot more.
"It is legitimate for the EU to set targets for absolute carbon emissions reductions, which should be our ultimate priority. However, it is wrong for the commission to micromanage national energy planning by setting binding targets for renewables and biofuels. This will artificially drive investment towards very high-cost methods of cutting carbon.
"The politicians who sign up to this deal will be out of office in ten years time - but pensioners and the poor will be left with the biggest bills."