Political uncertainty 'threatens energy security'

A major new report by the UK Energy Research Centre( UKERC) concludes that political uncertainties are damaging the UK’s low-carbon ambitions and could prevent the UK from staying within its carbon budgets.

Recent rises in energy prices, the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and heightened concerns about energy security have challenged the government’s commitment to its carbon targets.

The report - UK Energy Strategies Under Uncertainty - features contributions from more than thirty of Britain’s leading academic experts on energy, and identifies the key uncertainties facing the UK’s planned low carbon transition, as well as recommending strategies to tackle these uncertainties.

Professor Jim Watson, Research Director of the UK Energy Research Centre and one of the lead authors of the report, said: “For the last decade energy policy in the UK has been an increasingly delicate balancing act between reducing emissions, security and affordability.”

He added: "Policymakers are right to be sensitive to the financial pressures facing the public and businesses, but action to relieve these pressures shouldn’t come at the cost of progress towards a low-carbon economy. Current uncertainties about the direction of UK energy policy run the very real risk of making energy less affordable, less secure and less sustainable in the long-term."

The report concludes that more attention should be paid to public concerns about the structure of the energy market, and who should pay for new investments that need to be made. This could persuade the public to accept less desirable aspects of system change (e.g. some continued fossil fuel use) if there is confidence that the full range of concerns are being considered, and there is a clear long-term vision for change.