Energy and Environment 2009: Our Low Carbon Revolution – Driving economic growth in the 21st Century will examine the UK’s progress in an international context, featuring Industry experts and best practice case studies from Europe and the International Community.
In line with this, the conference will highlight the impact of recent Government legislation on the development of the UK energy and environment market., focusing in particular on those Bills below:
The Energy Bill was introduced to Parliament on the 10th January 2008, and will update the legislative framework by putting in place new legislation to:
- Reflect the availability of new technologies – such as CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) and emerging renewable technologies;
- Correspond with changing requirements for security of supply infrastructure (such as offshore gas storage);
- Ensure adequate protection for the environment and the tax payer as the energy market changes.
The content of the Bill is quoted as follows:
- Offshore gas supply infrastructure: strengthening the regulatory framework to enable private sector investment in order to help maintain reliable supplies of energy given – expecting to rely on imported gas to meet up to 80% demand by 2020;
- Carbon Capture and Storage: creating a regulatory framework to enable private sector investment in CCS projects. CCS has the potential to reduce the carbon emissions from fossil fuel power stations by up to 90%;
- Renewables: Strengthening the Renewables Obligation to drive greater and more rapid deployment of renewables in the UK. This will increase the diversity of the UK’s electricity mix, thereby improving the reliability of energy supplies and help to lower the carbon emissions from the electricity sector;
- Decommissioning of offshore renewables and oil and gas installations: strengthening statutory decommissioning provisions to minimise the risk of liabilities falling to the Government;
- Improvements to offshore oil and gas licensing: to improve the licensing regime in response to changes in the commercial environment and enable BERR to carry out its regulatory functions more effectively;
- Nuclear waste and decommissioning financing (on a contingent basis subject to the outcome of the consultation): ensuring the operators of new nuclear power stations accumulate funds to meet the full costs of decommissioning and their full share of waste management costs;
- Offshore electricity transmission. Amending powers so that Ofgem is able to run the offshore transmission licensing regime more effectively;
- Housekeeping: Various provisions covering nuclear security and transfer of various regulatory functions to/from BERR.
Climate Change Bill announced on the 29th October 2007 will provide the long-term legal framework for action and is comprised of four key elements or pillars:
- A statutory commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% from 1990 levels by 2050;
- To establish an independent body - the Carbon Committee - to work with Government to reduce emissions over time and across the economy;
- To create enabling powers to put in place new emissions reduction measures needed to achieve set goals; and
- Improve monitoring and reporting arrangements, including how the Government reports to Parliament.
The Planning Bill introduced on 27th November will establish a new system for infrastructure planning, together with reforms to the town and country planning system, following on from the White Paper – Planning for a Sustainable Future, published in May 2007.
The Bill will include a new Community Infrastructure Levy – to increase investment in infrastructure and empower local authorities to ensure new developments support infrastructure delivery.
The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) is a new mandatory cap and trade scheme which will apply to approximately 5,000 organisations with electricity bills over £500,000 per year. The CRC target sector currently accounts for around 10% of the UK’s emissions.
For the first time, this scheme will target those organisations such as schools, fire fighters, leisure centres, town halls and other public sector buildings, as part of a local authorities’ carbon footprint.
This Scheme is financially neutral – with those bodies who manage to cut their emissions being rewarded and those who overshoot their allowances having to buy more permits, thereby improving energy efficiency.