These tough economic times have led some people to say that we should cut back on tackling climate change and delay any moves towards a low-carbon economy.
The argument goes that governments must focus firmly on economic recovery, not on climate recovery. The move to green manufacturing and low-carbon production, not to mention getting a global agreement on climate change, must wait and be pushed to the sidelines, they say.
But the action that the UK is taking shows that deciding between helping the economy or the environment is a false choice. In the UK, we know that the route to building our economy for the future lies in a sustainable and low-carbon recovery.
This shift is central to creating jobs and growth in new industries. In recent weeks we have put in place many of the measures that will support this long-term move to a low-carbon and green economy.
In December, the EU agreed an ambitious climate change and energy package. Last month the UK finance minister, Alastair Darling, delivered not only his financial budget for the government, but also the very first carbon budgets.
These place a cap on the emissions the UK can release over three five-year periods up to 2022 and include a legally binding target to reduce emissions to at least 34% below 1990 levels by 2022. This will help us meet our target of an 80% cut in greenhouse gases on 1990 levels by 2050. These innovative mechanisms will help deliver the UK’s contribution to the EU’s climate change and energy package.
Much of the UK’s reduction will be made via the EU’s emission trading scheme (ETS). Action in sectors not covered by the ETS during the first five-year period will be delivered through domestic action and not by paying third countries to reduce their emissions.
And we plan to tighten the budget further providing we can get the ambitious, global agreement we need at the United Nations climate-change summit in Copenhagen in December.
But targets and frameworks alone will not solve climate change. One of the key factors in our success remains how we can radically accelerate the spread of cleaner technology – good for jobs, the economy and the planet.
This technological breakthrough is needed perhaps most of all to tackle the toughest issue, namely coal. The future of coal poses the starkest dilemma we face: it is a polluting fuel, but is used across the world because it is low-cost and flexible enough to meet fluctuations in demand for power.
To square this circle, I recently outlined plans for the biggest demonstration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in the world. This includes:
A major push on the technology: up to four new projects to demonstrate CCS, each one ten times bigger than the largest currently running in the world.
The end of unabated coal: I proposed a new rule that no new coal power station will get consent without demonstrating carbon capture from day one on about 25% of its output. Applications that do not demonstrate CCS will be turned down.
A clear commitment to low-carbon coal once it is proven: there will an independent judgment about when the technology is proven, and once it is, power stations will have to fit it not just on a part of the plant but to cover 100% of their output.
Global co-operation on CCS is taking place but must accelerate this year to ensure the whole world benefits from this technology. The benefits of such technology are not only environmental. There are clear business and job opportunities to be found in green technology, manufacturing and energy supplies.
We have all heard the messages loud and clear: following the bold example taken by the EU, US President Barack Obama has committed the US to tackling climate change and cleaning up energy. The G20 meeting of world leaders, chaired by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, agreed that economic recovery must be sustainable and green.
It is for these reasons that I see the growing international consensus on the shift to low-carbon pointing to hope, not despair. By working together across countries, we can both avoid dangerous climate change and see our economies recover in a sustainable way.
This is the right thing to do for present and future generations.
Ed Miliband is the UK’s secretary of state for energy and climate change.