Reforms offer roadmap to green future says FoE

Friends of the Earth said that today’s electricity market reforms “could provide the route map to a safe, green future”. But the environmental group cautioned that “ministers mustn’t get led […]

Friends of the Earth said that today’s electricity market reforms “could provide the route map to a safe, green future”.

But the environmental group cautioned that “ministers mustn’t get led astray by lack of ambition or vested interests”.

Friends of the Earth’s senior climate change campaigner Tony Bosworth said: “Failing to tackle climate challenge will have enormous economic and environmental impacts that will dwarf our current financial problems.

“If Britain harnesses its massive renewable electricity potential it could create tens of thousands of jobs and help free us from our dependency on overseas fossil fuels.”

Mr Bosworth added: “The government must slash emissions from the electricity sector by at least 90% by 2030 to create the green power we’ll depend on to drive our cars and heat our homes of the future.

He said long-term, low-carbon electricity contracts set at the right levels could boost more green power, “but these should only support clean renewable schemes, not breathe new life into the failed nuclear experiment”.

And he added that “capping polluting carbon dioxide from new coal and gas-fired power stations is not enough… the government must also tackle those already belching out climate- changing emissions.”

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