The UK energy sector is in a “different world” due to the faltering consensus on energy policy and climate change, according to Tim Warham, former senior policy adviser at the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
Speaking at the Clean Power 2030 summit in London today, Warham said the cross-party consensus that emerged in the 2010 coalition government and gave rise to the UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) program and a focus on renewable energy as “value for money” has eroded. And while the current administration is particularly supportive of renewable energy sources, Warham said he is “not confident that the current climate will continue.”
Warham spoke on a panel entitled ‘Government Role and Political Landscape: Energy Security, Affordability, and Climate Goals’ with Tone Langengen, senior policy advisor for climate and energy at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, who said the breakdown of the consensus on energy and climate was happening at a time of ‘increasing geopolitical instability’.
She said that with conflicts such as the wars between Russia, Ukraine and Iran putting pressure on global energy supply chains and driving up prices, and energy being drawn into the “AI revolution – an arms race between China and the US”, the UK market is increasingly exposed to international shocks outside its control.
Solar Power Portal recently examined the chilling effect that anti-renewables and climate denialist rhetoric from opposition parties, particularly the Reform UK party, are having on developers and investors in UK renewables, and its potential knock-on effects on energy security.
In the context of these external factors and political divisions, the UK renewable energy industry is “not performing well enough to explain why energy costs are so high,” Langengen said. She added that much of the public is “ill” informed about the dynamics of energy and the reasons for high prices in Britain, which will fuel political divisions and the anti-renewables message.
This is despite the fact that the messaging around renewable energy sources has largely shifted from climate change to energy security, precisely because of the increasing frequency of energy shocks.
This echoed the words of Dean Cooper, WWF global head of energy, who spoke earlier in the day. He said industry and politicians must make it clear to consumers that the negative impacts of renewable energy projects are smaller than the long-term climate and economic impacts caused by the continued use of fossil fuels and their impact on vital sectors.
A study by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) found that the Net Zero economy contributes £105 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy, and data from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) showed that achieving a Net Zero economy by 2050 could cost the UK less in total than another energy shock on the scale of the 2022 crisis. But the political divisions are clearly visible, with the Conservative Party abandoning the Net Zero commitments it imposed on the country, and Reform UK abandoning its slogan ‘net stupid zero’ has doubled while at the same time calling for new drilling permits in the North Sea.
Warham wrapped up the panel saying, “There are reasons to be cheerful.” He said renewables combined with international interconnectors with France and Norway are “able to provide a balanced energy supply”, and that the UK energy system has become “nearly carbon-free” in recent decades compared to its dependence on coal generation after the Second World War. He suggested that the transition to renewable energy sources, although complicated and with an uncertain future, will not be without success.
