GWPF | 24 July 2015
Climate Agenda ‘Dictated By Left-Wing Anti-Capitalists’, Says UK Climate Secretary
The government has signed the death warrant for another environmental scheme, this time the Green Deal energy-saving programme that ministers once called the biggest home improvement measure since the second world war. A day after moving to axe solar farm and woodchip power subsidies, Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, said the government was pulling funding for the finance company that delivers the Green Deal scheme, in order to “protect taxpayers”. –Pilita Clark, Financial Times, 24 July 2015
1) UK Government Axes Green Deal – Financial Times, 24 July 2015
2) More Green Cuts: Homeowners Face Cuts To Solar Panel Subsidies – The Times, 23 July 2015
3) Climate Agenda ‘Dictated By Left-Wing Anti-Capitalists’, Says Amber Rudd – The Daily Telegraph, 24 July 2015
4) Editorial: Abolishing Green Deal Is A Victory For Common Sense – The Daily Telegraph, 24 July 2015
5) Renewable Energy Scaled Back In Britain, Germany And US – The Australian, 23 July 2015
6) Greenpeace India Faces Shutdown – Business Insider India, 23 July 2015
Households face cuts in “feed-in tariffs” for new solar panels on roofs under government plans to prevent subsidies for renewable energy spiralling out of control. Amber Rudd, the energy secretary, said the renewable energy industry could not be given a blank cheque and the level of subsidies should be reduced because of a fall in the cost of solar panels. Ms Rudd said: “We can’t have a situation where industry has a blank cheque paid for by people’s bills. I’m going to ensure that bills are kept down.” –Ben Webster, The Times, 23 July 2015
Left wing anti-capitalists have dictated the debate on tackling climate change and a Conservative approach is needed to prevent global warming, Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, will say on Friday. In her first major speech on the topic, Ms Rudd will say she can “understand the suspicion of those who see climate action as some sort of cover for anti-growth, anti-capitalist, proto-socialism”. “It cannot be left to one part of the political spectrum to dictate the solution and some of the loudest voices have approached the issue from a left-wing perspective,” she will say. Ms Rudd will attack green policies that encourage “permanent reliance on subsidy” and call instead for a market-based approach to dealing with climate change. –Emily Gosden, Daily Telegraph, 24 July 2015
The end of the Green Deal scheme is a victory for common sense, albeit an overdue one. The decision to end the Green Deal – taken by Amber Rudd, the impressively sensible Energy Secretary – has inevitably drawn complaints from so-called green groups, already unhappy about the withdrawal of subsidies from inefficient and unpopular energy sources like wind turbines and solar panels. The critics often talk about an environmentally sustainable energy regime, but overlook the fact the system must be fiscally sustainable too. Efficiency schemes, like renewable generators, will never be sustainable if they depend on public money. –Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, 24 July 2015
Ambitious plans to greatly boost renewable energy to cut carbon dioxide emissions have collided with political and economic reality in Britain, Germany and the US. The newly re-elected Conservative government of David Cameron has started to cut billions of pounds from renewable energy subsidies. For several weeks British newspapers, including The Financial Times, The Independent, The Times and The Daily Telegraph have detailed the Cameron government’s determination to stop runaway electricity prices and check green energy spending. –Graham Lloyd, The Australian, 23 July 2015
After the central government’s decision to freeze foreign NGO Greenpeace’s accounts, the final nail on the coffin is being put by Tamil Nadu Inspector of Registration’s office. The NGO that has been vocal about environmental issues has been under the govt’s scrutiny for quite sometime. And now the office of registration in Tamil Nadu has issued a show-cause notice for cancellation of its registration as a society. —Business Insider India, 23 July 2015
1) UK Government Axes Green Deal
Financial Times, 24 July 2015
Pilita Clark
The government has signed the death warrant for another environmental scheme, this time the Green Deal energy-saving programme that ministers once called the biggest home improvement measure since the second world war.
A day after moving to axe solar farm and woodchip power subsidies, Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, said the government was pulling funding for the finance company that delivers the Green Deal scheme, in order to “protect taxpayers”.
Funding will also end for a home improvement fund cashback scheme, which has provided £114m for 27,000 energy-efficiency measures. […]
Ms Rudd said low take-up was one reason for the move, as well as concerns about industry standards. A new, improved scheme would be introduced, she said, without giving any details of what it might entail.
“We are on the side of hardworking families and businesses – which is why we cannot continue to fund the Green Deal,” she said.
“Future schemes must provide better value for money, supporting the goal of insulating a million more homes over the next five years and the government’s commitment to tackle fuel poverty.”
Environmental campaigners attacked Ms Rudd’s move, the latest in a series of government steps to lower or end green energy support.
See also: Chris Huhne announces Green Deal (Sept 2010) – The disgraced former Energy and Climate Change Secretary claims Green Deal will create almost 250,000 jobs in green industries.
2) More Green Cuts: Homeowners Face Cuts To Solar Panel Subsidies
The Times, 23 July 2015
Ben Webster
Households face cuts in “feed-in tariffs” for new solar panels on roofs under government plans to prevent subsidies for renewable energy spiralling out of control.
More than 250 proposed solar farms are also likely to be abandoned after the early closure of a subsidy scheme.
Coal-fired power stations, such as Drax in North Yorkshire, also face a reduction in the subsidy available to convert more of their boilers to burning wood pellets from North America.
Amber Rudd, the energy secretary, said the renewable energy industry could not be given a blank cheque and the level of subsidies should be reduced because of a fall in the cost of solar panels.
She began a consultation proposing the closure next April of the renewables obligation (RO) scheme for new solar farms that cover up to 25 acres and generate less than five megawatts.
The government previously announced reductions in subsidies for solar farms above 25 acres and onshore wind farms.
Ms Rudd said: “We can’t have a situation where industry has a blank cheque paid for by people’s bills. I’m going to ensure that bills are kept down.”
3) Climate Agenda ‘Dictated By Left-Wing Anti-Capitalists’, Says Amber Rudd
Daily Telegraph, 24 July 2015
Emily Gosden
Britain’s climate change secretary says she can understand why people see tackling global warming as “cover for anti-growth, anti-capitalist, proto-socialism.”
Amber Rudd calls for a Conservative approach to tackling global warming. Photo: PA
Left wing anti-capitalists have dictated the debate on tackling climate change and a Conservative approach is needed to prevent global warming, Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, will say on Friday.
In her first major speech on the topic, Ms Rudd will say she can “understand the suspicion of those who see climate action as some sort of cover for anti-growth, anti-capitalist, proto-socialism”.
“It cannot be left to one part of the political spectrum to dictate the solution and some of the loudest voices have approached the issue from a left-wing perspective,” she will say.
Ms Rudd will attack green policies that encourage “permanent reliance on subsidy” and call instead for a market-based approach to dealing with climate change.
Addressing businesses in the City, days after announcing cuts to solar farm subsidies, she will say that “the economic impact of unchecked climate change would be profound”, bringing “lower growth, higher prices, a lower quality of life”.
Taking action against global warming is therefore the “ultimate insurance policy” to ensure economic security.
But she will warn: “The bottom line is this – if we are acting on climate change to preserve our economic prosperity, we have to make sure that climate change action is pro-growth and pro-business.”
Ms Rudd is in the process of reviewing all green energy subsidies after forecasts showed they were likely to cost £1.5 billion more than a Treasury-set budget.
She will reiterate her calls to adopt a Thatcherite approach to global warming, citing the late Prime Minister’s 1990 speech, which she says “first put climate change on the international agenda”.
“She told the World Climate Conference in 1990 that ‘the danger of global warming is real enough for us to make changes and sacrifices, so that we do not live at the expense of future generations.’ I agree,” Ms Rudd will say.
The best way to tackle climate change is by “using free enterprise and competition to drive down the costs of climate action, to develop new technologies”, she will say.
4) Editorial: Abolishing Green Deal Is A Victory For Common Sense
The Daily Telegraph, 24 July 2015
The end of the Green Deal scheme is a victory for common sense, albeit an overdue one. For some time, it has been clear that the complex system of loans and subsidies for household energy efficiency measures was not working.
Uptake figures have consistently fallen short of Government expectations, and there have been suspicions that the scheme was simply handing public money to householders who would have carried out their improvements anyway, a clear waste of money.
Celebrations over the end of the scheme are thus tempered by the knowledge that more than £140 million of taxpayers’ money has already been spent on it.
To be clear, the objectives of the Green Deal were the right ones. Our homes should be more energy-efficient. For individual households, that would mean lower bills. For the country as whole, it would reduce the pressure on our energy generating capacity, and lessen our need for imported gas.
Yet there must be better ways of achieving that goal than handing large sums of public money to a small number of households canny enough to navigate the application process.
The decision to end the Green Deal – taken by Amber Rudd, the impressively sensible Energy Secretary – has inevitably drawn complaints from so-called green groups, already unhappy about the withdrawal of subsidies from inefficient and unpopular energy sources like wind turbines and solar panels.
The critics often talk about an environmentally sustainable energy regime, but overlook the fact the system must be fiscally sustainable too. Efficiency schemes, like renewable generators, will never be sustainable if they depend on public money.
5) Renewable Energy Scaled Back In Britain, Germany And US
The Australian, 23 July 2015
Graham Lloyd
Ambitious plans to greatly boost renewable energy to cut carbon dioxide emissions have collided with political and economic reality in Britain, Germany and the US.
The newly re-elected Conservative government of David Cameron has started to cut billions of pounds from renewable energy subsidies.
For several weeks British newspapers, including The Financial Times, The Independent, The Times and The Daily Telegraph have detailed the Cameron government’s determination to stop runaway electricity prices and check green energy spending. Britain has announced ambitious plans to cut emissions by boosting renewable energy, on a similar scale to those now proposed by the ALP.
But as in Australia with the carbon tax, there has been a strong backlash to rising electricity costs, which now include £4.3 billion ($9bn) of green scheme subsidies.
British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd has taken the knife to subsidies for onshore wind farms, ending existing schemes early and putting future funding in doubt.
She has said the Cameron government would not support large-scale solar farms and there have been reports that the government’s main auction scheme to encourage low-carbon power will be delayed or possibly scrapped.
Ms Rudd told the British parliament this week: “We want subsidies to be the way to get the low-carbon economy going and then for the state to step back”.
Renewable energy companies have said the withdrawal of subsidies will cripple the industry.
In Germany, which Bill Shorten cited as an inspiration for Labor’s move, the Merkel government has been forced to scrap a plan for an environmental levy on coal producers. A compromise plan was agreed this month giving a six-year lifeline to some of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants.
Germany is considered to have led the green energy transition with a plan to cut carbon emissions by 40 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020. Despite the billions spent on wind and solar projects, Germany still generates 44 per cent of its electricity from coal. And a report by Roland Berger and the World Energy Council says at least €280bn ($413bn) will be needed in the next 15 years to meet Germany’s green energy targets.
Managing the cost of the transition in terms of household power bills and industry competitiveness is proving difficult. German manufacturers say they are becoming less competitive against the US, which has cut greenhouse gas emissions through technological advances in the production of shale oil and gas, which has increasingly replaced coal.
Despite Barack Obama’s declared global ambitions on climate change, renewable energy targets and subsidies in the US are under pressure.
The US President’s green energy plans face a hostile Senate and the US Supreme Court has struck down some attempts to use the Environmental Protection Agency to force curbs on emissions from coal-fired power stations without first undertaking a cost-benefit analysis. State governments are also backtracking on announced renewable energy mandates, which act like Australia’s Renewable Energy Target to force non-fossil fuel generators into the electricity market.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Kansas has effectively repealed its Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, which required 20 per cent renewable electricity by 2020. The target is now voluntary.
6) Greenpeace India Faces Shutdown
Business Insider India, 23 July 2015
After the central government’s decision to freeze foreign NGO Greenpeace’s accounts, the final nail on the coffin is being put by Tamil Nadu Inspector of Registration’s office. The NGO that has been vocal about environmental issues has been under the govt’s scrutiny for quite sometime.
And now the office of registration in Tamil Nadu has issued a show-cause notice for cancellation of its registration as a society under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, according to a news report by The Economic Times. The notice, which cites multiple violations of the law governing societies, was served on the Chennai-based NGO on June 16 following an inspection of its office and accounts on June 3. […]
The cancellation of registration denotes winding up of its offices in India, where it claims to be employing around 350 people – as its members have been taking instructions from their foreign bosses in day-to-day administrative matters, including senior appointments. “As per the memorandum, all such issues are to be internally decided by the members,” an official told TOI.
According to home ministry sources, though the June 16 show-cause notice had given Greenpeace India eight days to respond, it is yet to file a reply. “The NGO has sought a deadline extension, claiming it needs more time to draft the response,” a senior officer said.
As per Section 39 of the TN Societies Registration Act, a society, upon cancellation of its registration, will cease to carry on business except so far as may be required for its “beneficial winding up”.
