Lord Sugar calls for decarbonisation target as Energy Bill reaches final stage http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/lord-sugar-calls-for-decarbonisation-target-as-energy-bill-reaches-final-stage/
As MPs begin their Third Reading of the Energy Bill in Parliament this week, Lord Sugar has joined over 50 companies, charities and trade associations, including Cisco, PZ Cussons and Unison, in asking it to back an amendment which would commit the UK to a near carbon-free power sector by 2030.The star of the Apprentice TV programme, writing in the Financial Times, said: “this country needs jobs, and the renewable industry could help unlock our crippled manufacturing sector”.Alan Sugar says that “mixed messages” from the coalition government have undermined confidence in British renewable energy, which is losing its competitive advantage compared to Germany, India, China and the US.“The renewables industry is currently worth £122bn a year to the UK economy. As someone who has spent over 45 years developing technology, it is disappointing to see the government has not seized the opportunities offered by this innovative sector,” he said.“Without a 2030 decarbonisation target, the Energy Bill will be aimless, leaving businesses and potential investors with prolonged uncertainty and no real commitment from the politicians who were supposed to be the greenest government ever.”As currently drafted and supported by Secretary of State Ed Davey, the Energy Bill commits the Government to postponing a decision on the setting of a decarbonisation target until 2016.The amendment to the Bill, tabled by Tim Yeo, the Conservative chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, would force electricity generators to remove all coal and gas-fired power stations from their networks over the next 16 years, unless fitted with carbon capture and storage technology.
As MPs begin their Third Reading of the Energy Bill in Parliament this week, Lord Sugar has joined over 50 companies, charities and trade associations, including Cisco, PZ Cussons and Unison, in asking it to back an amendment which would commit the UK to a near carbon-free power sector by 2030.The star of the Apprentice TV programme, writing in the Financial Times, said: “this country needs jobs, and the renewable industry could help unlock our crippled manufacturing sector”.Alan Sugar says that “mixed messages” from the coalition government have undermined confidence in British renewable energy, which is losing its competitive advantage compared to Germany, India, China and the US.“The renewables industry is currently worth £122bn a year to the UK economy. As someone who has spent over 45 years developing technology, it is disappointing to see the government has not seized the opportunities offered by this innovative sector,” he said.“Without a 2030 decarbonisation target, the Energy Bill will be aimless, leaving businesses and potential investors with prolonged uncertainty and no real commitment from the politicians who were supposed to be the greenest government ever.”As currently drafted and supported by Secretary of State Ed Davey, the Energy Bill commits the Government to postponing a decision on the setting of a decarbonisation target until 2016.The amendment to the Bill, tabled by Tim Yeo, the Conservative chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, would force electricity generators to remove all coal and gas-fired power stations from their networks over the next 16 years, unless fitted with carbon capture and storage technology.
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