04 Jun 07

'Present UK policy is a hotch-potch of measures unlikely to deliver the government's vision', says a report by a high-level taskforce chaired by the Chancellor of the University of Oxford Lord Patten of Barnes, which warns that the government's current policies on energy security, climate change and development aid need to change. The report, 'Energy, Politics and Poverty', published today, argues that all three goals can be simultaneously achieved if they are coherently followed - and spells out how the UK could do that.

The report is the result of several meetings by an international taskforce of scholars, high-level officials from the UN and government, and business advisers on energy, the environment, and development assistance. The taskforce was convened by the Director of Oxford's Global Economic Governance Programme, Dr Ngaire Woods, and the Director of Oxford's Institute of Energy Studies, Christopher Allsopp.

The report warns that the stakes are high: the wrong energy policy, misaligned with goals on climate change and global poverty risks, could create new enemies for Europe, new threats to energy supply, greater damage and worse poverty in the poorest parts of the world.

The main recommendations in the 24-page report detail: a better UK energy policy which forces some coherence among departments which are currently pursuing separate goals; a deeper, more robust EU energy framework which delivers security of energy supplies and addresses climate change; and development assistance policies which help poor countries to deal with climate change effects already being felt, and the new scramble for resources in Africa.

Energy in the UK

The taskforce finds that the UK government has failed to meet its targets on carbon dioxide emissions which have been rising not falling for the last four years. Equally seriously, European arrangements are failing to provide a framework for dealing with climate change. Within the UK, there is no coherent strategy for replacing the one third of UK electricity generation which is about to be phased out. The government's latest energy review offers only a very small step in the right direction.

Recommendation

The taskforce recommends a much higher level of investment in carbon capture and sequestration, investment in other low-carbon technologies, a deepening and strengthening of EU-wide energy infrastructure development, and proper planning and regulation for a nuclear rebuilt if that is to proceed.

Moving forward with the European Union

The taskforce highlights Europe's failure to unite in a coherent approach to Russia at precisely a time when there is uncertainty about future gas supplies from Russia on which EU countries depend. (Gazprom, the largest Russian company and world's biggest extractor of natural gas, is a major player in the European market at a time when Russian policy takes on a geo-political colour.) Equally seriously, the EU has failed to develop an adequate strategy for engaging other major energy-users in meeting climate change goals - notably, China, India, and the United States.

Recommendations

The taskforce recommends a tough, unified approach to Russia, much clearer UK goals in the EU, and a new compact forging cooperation with China and India - which the US can join when it is ready.

Other international goals

The UK has committed very significant resources to alleviating global poverty, but it will fail if adaptation to climate change is not immediately woven into its aid programmes. The taskforce accepts that reducing carbon emissions in the UK and other developed countries is the best way to reduce the impact of climate change on the world's poor, but it highlights that changes already occurring must urgently be dealt with. The taskforce also conclude that there are significant risks in the new scramble for resources in Africa.

Recommendations

The taskforce recommends that UK and EU aid policies respond immediately to the effects of climate change already being felt in poor countries. With EU partners, the UK should also considerably strengthen and implement global standards which will guard against the secretive, unfair, and corrupt exploitation of energy resources in poor countries.

The Chair of the taskforce, Lord Patten of Barnes, said: 'Britain's energy policy just doesn't stack up. It won't deliver security. It won't deliver on our commitments on climate change. It falls short of what the world's poorest countries need.

'The government's latest energy review underlines that the UK has a set of energy policies that don't stack up. We need energy policies which step up to our commitments to address climate change and global poverty.'

The Co-director of the taskforce, Oxford University's Ngaire Woods, said: 'Government officials are each working on one small part of the problem - some are trying to deal with energy prices, others are trying to deal with climate change, some are working on global poverty. But nowhere is there a coherent strategic plan.'

Dr Kevin Watkins, Director of the UN Human Development Report Office, said: 'Climate change is the defining human development challenge of the 21^st Century. Britain is failing to respond to that challenge. Current policies suffer from two fundamental flaws. First, the targets set for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the Climate Change Bill are not ambitious enough. If other countries followed Britain's lead, dangerous climate change would be inevitable. Second, setting targets is not a substitute for reforming energy policy - and Britain has yet to define the energy policies that will take us towards a low carbon future.'