Strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement in British environmental policy in the areas of climate change and energy

Résumé du document

Climate change is now recognised as a major threat which can lead to worldwide disasters. Since the end of the 19th century, the average global temperature has risen from 0.4 to 0.8°C. Since we have begun recording the earth's temperature, 1998 has been the hottest year. The sea level has started to rise and will continue to do so if the issue remains unanswered. And the global average temperature could rise by as much as 5.8°C by 2100 if global warming is to continue. There is now a general consensus among scientists on the reality of climate change, as well as on the effect of human activity on the planet. Since the industrial revolution, which involved the burning of fossil fuels, carbon dioxide emissions have been produced and have led to an important rise in global temperatures. Nowadays, heating, transports, and energy production are among the activities, which contribute the most to global warming. Since climate change and greenhouse-gas emissions are linked, and since these emissions are created by the burning of fossil fuels to produce electricity and for transport, our ability to reduce our impact on the earth involves redesigning our energy policy.

Extraits

[...] The United Kingdom has recently issued numerous reports and reviews providing solutions to these challenges. Its main aim is to ensure the supply of energy while reducing carbon dioxide emissions, in a context of liberalised energy supply market. In order to meet this target, it has contemplated various solutions, ranging from renewable energy to nuclear power. In order to assess the British policy regarding energy and climate change, we will first examine the international context and the evolution of UK policy and achievements in the past years, before focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of its choices. [...]

[...] Gov.uk/energy/review 5. Sustainable Development Commission. Meeting the Challenge: Energy Policy for the 21st Century. http://www.sd- commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/DTI-Energy-Review-SDC- Submission_2006.pdf Elliott, David. (2003) Energy, Society and Environment London: Routledge 9. International Energy Agency. http://www.iea.org/rdd/default/asp Performance and Innovation Unit (2001) Working paper on generating technologies: potential and costs reductions to 2020. http://startegy.gov .uk/downloads/files/PIUh/pdf 11. [...]

[...] II/ Strengths, weaknesses and alternatives UK energy and climate change policy has thus evolved and has taken a different direction as when it was initiated. We will see in this part that if its initial commitments and decisions were quite relevant, its latest choices can be more subject to criticism. UK energy policy and climate change limits UK program concerning climate change was quite ambitious as it planned to reduce its emissions by an even greater amount than it was supposed to according to its participation to the Kyoto Protocol. [...]

[...] Thus, the government invests more on nuclear power than on other technologies, which could however constitute better alternatives. According to foe, nuclear was granted 169 billion pounds in Government research grants from developed countries, while renewables only received 24 billion pounds This result is quite alarming as we know that renewables would actually correspond to the type of targets the Government has. This type of energy takes a shorter time to be built, for example wind projects take at most three years to be conceived and installed. [...]

[...] Thus of British electricity is produced through gas and coal, the issue is serious. Even though imports are possible, as for example the supply of gas from Norway, this leads the country to be dependant on foreign supply and does not ensure reliable supply. Finally, the thirteen nuclear power stations currently operating will be decommissioned soon, and if no other station is built, the last nuclear power plant will be decommissioned by 2035. Nuclear power is responsible for the supply of 22% of our electricity. [...]