The UK government鈥檚 long-awaited Energy White Paper charting the nation鈥檚 energy strategy demands a 60-per-cent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, compared with 1990 discharges.
Published by the Department for Trade and Industry on Monday, the document reveals there are no plans to build more nuclear power stations in the UK and commits 拢350m to the development of wind, solar and wave power technologies.
Environmental groups welcomed the pledge to dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions which cause global warming by trapping solar energy. But they say the document lacks clear renewable targets and fails to close for good the option to build new nuclear power stations.
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鈥淭oday鈥檚 White Paper is a crucial landmark in moving the UK towards a more sustainable, low carbon economy,鈥� says Bryony Worthington, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth.
Low carbon economy
But she says the Government could have offered harder promises. Pleased by the government鈥檚 earlier pledges to produce 10 percent of the nation鈥檚 energy through renewables by 2010, campaigners hoped in vain to see this target doubled by 2020. In the White Paper this is described only as an 鈥渁spirational goal鈥�.
鈥淚t must now produce the bold policies, resources and commitment necessary to ensure that the vision of a genuinely sustainable, low carbon, energy policy can be realised,鈥� Worthington says.
There are no plans for the construction of new nuclear power stations in the UK. Sixteen nuclear power stations currently produce around a quarter of the country鈥檚 energy without generating heat-trapping 鈥済reenhouse gases鈥�. The remaining stations will reach the end of their operational lives by around 2030.
Nuclear option
But the position on nuclear energy will be reviewed in 2005 and Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt told BBC Radio Four on Monday: 鈥淲e are not absolutely ruling out new nuclear build forever.鈥� Some campaigners also noted that the sum allocated to renewable fuel sources is roughly half the 拢650m subsidy recently awarded to the nuclear industry.
Marcus Armes, of the community carbon reduction project at the University of East Anglia in the UK, says the paper represents an important step forward. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very positive document,鈥� he told 快猫短视频. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a chance to get ahead of the game with new technologies such as hydrogen fuel.鈥�
The White Paper backs initiatives to reduce the amount of energy wasted by the UK鈥檚 commercial sector. The new policies are expected to add between five and 15 percent to the price of household electricity and 25 percent to industrial prices.