UK: ‘Lazy, short-sighted and irresponsible’

A leaked government memo to British MEPs about how the UK plans to reach the EU’s ambitious target of increasing its use of renewables in energy consumption tenfold to 15% by 2020 from the current 1.5% has provoked anger and disbelief among green campaigners.

“Lazy, short-sighted and irresponsible,” is how Caroline Lucas, Green MEP, describes it.


The memo recommits Britain to its target (part of an overall EU one of 20%) but is shot through with references to “cost-efficiency” (seven) and “flexibility” (14) – and demands more of both, with officials refusing to say what that means. It suggests that ministers plan to trade their way to the target, importing renewable energy from elsewhere in the EU – Romania perhaps – and even outside Europe.

The government is even demanding relaxation of proposed rules governing the admission of large-scale projects such as the Severn Barrage towards the meeting the targets – even if they are not fully operational until after 2020. “They now want to extend this and weaken the criteria even further after exerting pressure to include this clause in the renewables directive,” said Frauke Thies, EU renewables campaigner at Greenpeace. “They’re trying to water it down here and every which way. And their trading plans will meet a lot of resistance.”

Guardian