The speech Gordon Brown made to the Foreign Press Association earlier today was billed as his first major proclamation on climate change and the environment since ascending to Number 10, but did it deliver? There was much reaffirming of previous statements and existing policies, but aside from a couple of big points there was nothing really new.
He went at some length to make sure we knew the UK wasn't backing out of the EU renewable energy targets of 20 per cent by 2020, after leaked documents last month suggested that the government was keen to knobble that. The exact figure for our contribution has yet to be worked out but our windy, wavey geography means we could see around 40 per cent of our electricity coming from renewables.
Speaking of which, there was some indication that various obstacles would be removed to encourage more renewable energy projects, and for micro-generation in homes and office where surplus electricity can be sold back to the grid. No detail on how this would be implemented though, so I'm on tenterhooks.
What stood out for me was a sign that the proposed Climate Change Bill might be tougher than expected. Brown did mention that the bill might require the 60 per cent cut in emissions by 2050 which is the figure that's been put forward by his government, but he also bandied about a figure of 80 per cent, going so far as to say: "the evidence now suggests that, as part of an international agreement, developed countries may have to reduce their emissions by up to 80 per cent." Fingers crossed on that one, too.
But the old red herrings also found their way in. The move to a low-carbon economy could also include nuclear, he said, but unlike a previous nod to his nuclear ambitions he remembered to note that of course a decision wouldn't be made until the results of the recent consultation are known.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) also got quite an airing with news of various projects to prove the process is commercially viable, but it's all just smoke and mirrors. If Brown gets his way, a lot of time and money will be spent on simply trying to prove that CCS will work (and nobody knows that it will) so that we can keep burning coal and other fossil fuels with abandon, when there are already technologies available which can help deliver a low-carbon country right now - decentralised energy is just one of them. Wouldn't it make more sense to invest in those?
So I find myself questioning Brown's commitment to steering us on a path away from runaway climate change - he made much of the UK's supposed lead on tackling the problem but I still need convincing. Other EU countries are way ahead of us: Germany's wind power capacity in 2006 was ten times that of ours, and those who do generate their own electricity can sell it back to the national grid for a guaranteed price.
I'm sure I'll be able to make my mind up very soon as Brown will be put to the test later this week when E.on's application to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth will land on his desk. If he's really serious about getting our emissions under control, he won't bet the bank on untried and untested technologies like CCS and won't be approving the application. So we'll know soon enough what colour Brown is painting himself - in the meantime, you can read the full speech and decide for yourself.
