Tackling the ‘Roll to Coal’

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Published: 30 March 2007

Tackling the ‘Roll to Coal’

The UK power sector's carbon emissions have rocketed by nearly 30% since 1999 with a rise of 6% in 2006 alone, a new WWF report has revealed.

The findings, released in WWF's report UK Power Sector Emissions - targets or reality?, show that in 2006 emissions from power stations shot up to 178 million tonnes of CO2 - an increase of 6% over 2005 - after a sector-wide return to coal use driven by high gas prices and increasing electricity demand.

The sector's emissions have now reached the highest level since 1992, cancelling out all of the gains from the so-called "dash for gas" in the 1990s.

WWF Cymru has been strongly urging the Welsh Assembly Government to consider how we can reduce our demand for energy overall in Wales and how we source the remainder from renewable resources & decentralised energy through dramatically increasing investment and implementation.

Last year, another WWF report found that a relatively modest package of policies to reduce electricity demand, deliver on renewables targets, increase levels of micro-generation and to bolster the EU ETS could reduce the power sector’s emissions by well over 50% from 1990 levels by 2020.

Unless we can break our dependence on fossil fuels here in Wales and across the UK, emissions will continue to rocket.

This raises important questions over the ability of the Welsh Assembly Government to deliver in full its commitment to sustainable development and reduced carbon emissions without having powers over consents for large energy developments.

In addition to this WWF Cymru is very concerned about the renewed interest in reviving the Welsh coal industry without fully established & proven Carbon Capture and Storage technology, and urges the industry to develop excellence in this critical area before mining more coal.

The report, compiled for WWF by leading energy consultancy IPA Energy + Water, confirms that there has been a dramatic rise in emissions since 1999.

It raises serious concerns about whether on current polices the Government can get close to its proposed target under the Climate Change Bill to cut emissions by 26-32% by 2020.

IPA compared official emissions data sources with their own robust estimate of emissions for 2006, based on reported information for the operating hours and fuels used by each of the UK’s major power stations.

The report shows that the power sector’s CO2 emissions fell steeply from 201 million tonnes in 1990 to 139 million tonnes in 1999, driven mainly by the “dash for gas”.

Since then, emissions have risen steadily - reaching 168 million tonnes in 2005 and an estimated 178 million tonnes in 2006.

WWF warns that the rise in power sector emissions is likely to be the biggest single reason why the Government will miss its target of a 20% CO2 reduction by 2010.

The Government has admitted that it will not meet its long-standing target to cut the UK’s CO2 emissions by 20% between 1990 and 2010.

Total emissions in 2005 were 554 million tonnes - just 6.4% below 1990 levels. If power sector emissions had remained at the level in 1999, the UK’s total emissions in 2005 would have been 11% down on 1990.

Morgan Parry, Head of WWF Cymru, said

"The UK is seen as taking a lead on climate change internationally - but these findings show that we urgently need to get to grips with our own emissions to give us credibility on the world stage.

This is a disgrace for the whole country, and shows that for the past decade the Government has talked a good game on climate change while failing dismally to tackle emissions from this highly polluting sector.

The 'dash for gas' in the nineties helped drive down carbon emissions almost by accident - but the power sector is now on a 'roll to coal' with profound environmental implications.

If the government is serious about climate change, the power sector has to be brought to heel - either through incentives or legislation - so that coal burn is dramatically reduced."

The power sector accounts for nearly one-third of the UK's carbon emissions.

The report highlights the fact that policies to put the sector onto a low-carbon path are proving woefully inadequate, largely because they are not implemented strongly enough.

The first phase of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme has failed to stop the return to coal - and the price of carbon has crashed because European governments issued far too many pollution permits to their industries.

The carbon price in the first phase of the EU ETS has crashed to around 1 Euro per tonne of CO2.

The European Commission is taking a tougher line with Member States on phase 2 (which runs from 2008-12), but there are concerns that generous rules on use of imported emission credits may mean that the ETS does not steer the UK power sector onto a lower-carbon trajectory.

Electricity consumption continues to rise despite Government promises of a "step change" in energy efficiency - and although renewables are making welcome progress, they are having to run fast to keep up with rising demand.

WWF believes that if the Government is to meet its targets in the Climate Change Bill, serious & urgent action is needed to:

· curb electricity consumption

· promote renewables & decentralised energy, and

· make clear that coal-fired power stations will not be allowed to run at high load factor in future unless they capture their carbon emissions & safely store them in geological formations

However, WWF warns that the Government's expected focus on nuclear power in the forthcoming Energy White Paper is distracting attention from these other key areas.

Morgan Parry added:

"The country's power industry is like the coal that it burns - prehistoric and dirty. The Government must tackle this problem right now, or face irreparable damage to its environmental credibility.

The next 10-15 years will be critical in tackling climate change - and the nuclear option is a red herring as even the Government's own energy review admitted that at best just one new reactor could be commissioned by 2020."

Further information

WWF Cymru

UK Power Sector Emissions - targets or reality?

The balance of power: Reducing CO2 emissions from the UK power sector - A summary of WWF-UK’s response to the 2006 Energy Review

WWF-UK Research centre: Taking action on climate change

IPA Energy + Water

2006 Energy review

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