Disappointingly in George Osborn’s budget set out in July 2015, the support for renewable energy industry saw significant set back as subsidies for green energy were dramatically cut. The Treasury estimates that ending it will bring in £450m this year, rising to £910m by 2020-21.
Whilst figures produced recently by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a UN governed organization, the UK will spend £26 billion this year on subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
The Levy Control Framework that caps the direct support of renewables has been projected to rise from £7.6 billion to £9.1 billion, and based on this ‘projection’ the budget has acted by cutting financial support of renewables. In the mean time, subsidies to the coal industry remain at £18 billion.
It leaves a question over the UK’s direction in meeting targets and raises questions of the Conservative Shadow-Cabinets convictions to renewable energy, outlined in policy papers, pre coalition:
“We have a vision of a different Britain… Our power suppliers no longer depend to any great extent on imported oil and gas; our homes require less energy, produce far more of their own energy and are heated by gas we produce from our own agricultural and domestic waste. It is a vision of a Britain which leads the world in new green technologies…. Why, despite eleven years in power, has Labour failed even to begin decarbonising Britain?… But we can plan to do the two things that governments can do to bring about real change in the energy economy – to create new networks, and to create new signals for the market, in electricity, in heat, in transport, in our buildings.” – David Cameron 6 Dec 2007 Policy Paper No 8.
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