Committee on Climate Change

The Committee was commissioned to conduct a review of renewable energy in May 2010 as part of the Coalition Agreement.

Within the review, we analyse the technical feasibility and economic viability of renewable technologies, propose scenarios for renewable energy deployment to 2030, and assess investment requirements and policy support required to deliver increased levels of renewable generating capacity.

The key conclusions of the review are: 

• Renewable energy is very promising and should play a major role in helping to decarbonise the UK’s power sector – reducing the carbon intensity of electricity by 90%, from around 500 gCO₂/kWh today to 50 gCO₂/kWh in 2030.
   
• The appropriate mix of low-carbon generation technologies for the 2020s and 2030s is highly uncertain because of the challenges in demonstrating and deploying key technologies. Given these uncertainties, the UK should invest in developing a range of renewable (and other low-carbon) technologies.
   
• Developing these will require Government to commit to minimum levels of support in the 2020s for offshore wind and marine (tidal stream and wave power), where the UK has natural advantage and could become a leading manufacturer. This support should be implemented as part of the electricity market reform, for example by reserving a proportion of the proposed Contracts for Differences for less mature renewable technologies.
   
• The share of heat that is produced from renewable sources could be increased to around 35% by 2030, through the use of electric heat pumps and bioenergy technologies. Government should now join up its policies on energy efficiency for buildings and homes with those on renewable heat to promote a ‘whole house’ approach to drive down emissions in these sectors.
   
•  A cautious approach to the use of biofuels in surface transport is appropriate, given concerns over sustainability (e.g. the tension between biofuels and food production, uncertainties about lifecycle emissions and biodiversity risks) and competing claims on scarce bioenergy supplies from other sectors (e.g. aviation, industry).
   

Read and download the Review