Energy policy swept by industry protest storm

Robert Lea
29 Apr 2009

British industry says the Government's CO2 emissions-reduction targets are fantasy, and companies cannot see how cutting their carbon footprint will win them new business.

That is the withering verdict on the Government's energy policy, which has also been hit hard by news that Britain's largest wind-turbine maker has slashed 600 jobs because ministers have done “too little too late” to promote the green energy revolution.

A survey of 100 of the country's largest energy users and 200 smaller businesses with significant energy usage has found extraordinary levels of disenchantment among British businessmen over the low-carbon economy.

The survey commissioned by electricity supplier npower found:

•83% think carbon reduction targets are unrealistic. The Government has set a target of 80% cuts by 2050 and the Chancellor revealed in the Budget last week a new target of 34% by 2020.

•only 31% think reducing a company's carbon footprint will attract commercial opportunities. That is much more downbeat than the 47% who said in the same survey last year they thought it would win business.

•97% said their priority on the downturn is financial, they are more interested in cutting costs than emissions though 80% conceded cutting emissions would also mean saving money.

“Companies simply do not believe that what the Government is saying on carbon reduction is achievable,” said npower director Julia Lynch-Williams. “There is a lack of clarity and understanding about how the Government hopes to achieve its reductions, and it is little wonder that financial issues are outweighing green issues for companies.

“What Government needs to do is end this uncertainty and give business a roadmap, an explanation of how we are going to get there. If business is to have any confidence in carbon reduction targets, the Government has to land on an answer on how they are to be achieved.”

The disarray in the Government's Energy policy, which has seen a stalling in windfarm investment and development, saw its first major casualty of the downturn as Vestas, the Danish turbine maker, said it was cutting 600 of its 1100 workers at its Isle of Wight plant.