The UK has today announced its strategy for meeting carbon emissions targets and to launch a massive increase in renewable energy. Plans announced yesterday by UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband.

"We expect 40% of the electricity we use in 2020 to come from low carbon sources - 30% from renewables, the rest from nuclear (including new build) and clean coal. We need to all but eliminate carbon from electricity by 2050"
Ed Milliband, UK Energy Climate Change Secretary

The plan has three components:

- The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan sets out how the UK will meet the cut in emissions set out in the 2009 Budget of 34% on 1990 levels by 2020.

- Also published today is the Renewable Energy Strategy, which maps out the UK government’s strategy for reaching the EU target of 15% of the UK’s total energy consumption from renewables by 2020, from around 2% today. Publication today of the Renewable Energy Strategy follows a year-long consultation process. It recommits the government to a massive increase in renewable electric power generation going up from 5% today to 30% by 2020.

-  And the government’s Low Carbon Transport Plan which sets out how to reduce carbon emissions from domestic transport by up to 14% over the next decade.  Among key points of the Low Carbon Transition Plan are a huge increase in employment in the low-carbon sector, energy efficiency measures in buildings and transport, and for an increase in low-carbon power.

Yesterday the Government also announced a consultation on Renewable and Small Scale Low Carbon Electricity Financial Incentives. This consultation seeks views on two mechanisms to provide financial incentives for the generation of low-carbon and renewable electricity; the renewables obligation (RO) and feed-in tariffs (FITs).

The RO is focused more on larger projects and is currently the main financial support scheme for renewable electricity in the UK. Eligible generators earn Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROC’s) for the renewable energy they produce which have a financial incentive. In order to stimulate the deployment of new renewable generation to the extent needed to meet the 2020 target for renewable energy, certain changes in the scheme have been highlighted in the consultation will are envisaged to come into effect in April 2010.

The Government has also announced yesterday the details of the proposed FIT’s due to come into force in April 2010 which incentivises renewable electricity installations up to a maximum capacity of 5MW. Producers are rewarded for their own clean energy through a system which will pay them for the electricity they generate. The consultation sets out how the governments intend the FITs scheme to work, including the proposed tariff levels, eligibility and supplier issues.