Climate change: and the Clean Growth Strategy

The initial responses to the government's announcement of its 'clean growth strategy' were pretty positive:
Futures Forum: Clean Growth Strategy >>> "refreshingly positive after years of blinkered mutterings about the supposed costs of 'green crap'."

Although the hugeness of the aspiration was also noted:
Futures Forum: Clean Growth Strategy vs Energiewende > the Energy Transition in German homes

Over the weekend, there has been a lot more diverse comment on:

CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE (CCS):

Carbon capture in doubt after Norway buries 90pc of budget

The latest bid to develop technology which traps and stores carbon emissions is already in doubt after a key European partner scaled back its plans, days after UK ambitions were reignited.

Norwegian ministers slashed the expected state investment in a trailblazing industrial carbon capture project by 90pc in response to growing political doubts over its costs. The swingeing cut emerged the same day UK ministers pledged to work with international partners in a second bid to develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry, after the failure of its £1bn scheme two years ago.

The UK’s clean growth strategy promised the £100m funding to ­develop CCS as part of a raft of 50 low-carbon policies and plans – but government is clear that full-scale CCS will not go ahead unless costs come down. At stake are the carbon-cutting plans of industrial clusters in Teesside, Merseyside, South Wales and Grangemouth which all hope to safeguard their future in the UK’s future low-carbon economy by fitting the new technology.

Carbon capture in doubt after Norway buries 90pc of budget - Telegraph

DECARBONISATION:

Ban on gas cookers and boilers by 2050 to hit green targets: Ministers pledge low-carbon alternatives as part of £2.5bn plan to modernise the use of fuel in homes

Using gas for heating and cooking should be banned by 2050, the Government said yesterday. It will be phased out over the next 30 years and replaced by low-carbon alternatives, ministers vowed. The war on gas was announced in the Clean Growth Strategy – £2.5billion of spending pledges to modernise the use of fuel in homes, businesses and transport.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy report is a response to a legally-binding commitment to cut greenhouse gas levels by 80 per cent by 2050. To do this the UK must stop using carbon-rich fossil fuels – gas, oil and coal. The measures follow a promise in July to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040.

The report said we will need to ‘fully decarbonise how we heat our homes’. But it is not certain which approaches will be the most cost-effective. From 2025, new homes in rural areas will have to be built with low carbon alternatives to gas such as heat pumps. These use buried pipes to extract heat from the ground and are particularly suited to underfloor heating systems.

Another possibility is converting appliances to run on hydrogen or on biogas, which is made from fermenting plant matter or manure. These methods would initially be costly but save money in the long run while cutting harmful emissions.

The report marks the end of the ‘dash for gas’ in the 1980s, when North Sea gas was used to replace coal. It details spending on smart energy storage, renewable energy projects and research into new nuclear technology and improved wind turbine design.

The sums include £100million for carbon capture and storage, an unproven technique that involves sucking carbon dioxide from the air and storing it in empty gas fields under the North Sea.

New forests will be created, with 11million trees planted to allow an increase in the use of timber in construction.

Ban on gas cookers and boilers by 2050 to hit green target | Daily Mail Online

THE CHALLENGE:

In-depth: How the ‘Clean Growth Strategy’ hopes to deliver UK climate goals

This graph shows UK's huge challenge to meet 5th carbon budget. Cuts needed across whole economy.

In-depth: How the ‘Clean Growth Strategy’ hopes to deliver UK climate goals | Carbon Brief
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