Brown sets carbon-free electricity target for 2020

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The UK will aim to meet all its electricity needs from low carbon sources, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday.
 

He highlighted the rising demand for energy which he said was likely to be 50 per cent higher by 2030.

With global carbon dioxide emissions also expected to have risen by 60 per cent, Mr Brown said the transformation to a low carbon economy had to begin now.

‘The issue is not, as some would have it: can we afford to do more. The now undeniable reality is that we cannot afford to accept any less,’ he said.

Mr Brown did not specify what the new sources of electricity would be. The Renewables Association welcomed his commitment but said there was still a gap between the rhetoric and the UK’s slow progress in making it happen.

‘It means dramatic changes to our energy and transport systems, built environment, and agriculture,’ said Philip Wolfe, Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association.

‘The Prime Minister set out the right direction of travel in his speech; if he’s serious he’ll take the opportunity to deliver a step change for renewables in the forthcoming legislative programme,’ said Mr Wolfe.

This article first appeared in the Ecologist November 2007