John Hutton, the man responsible for Britain's energy policy, gave his explicit support this morning for a new generation of coal-fired power stations.
Choosing the stormiest day of the year so far to deliver a speech to members of the right-wing think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, the Secretary of State for Business flew a dangerous kite when he insisted that coal has a "key role" to play in energy provision, and accused anyone who disagreed with him (that's us, folks, along with Prince Charles, Al Gore, the head of NASA, opposition parties and thousands of others) of playing "gesture politics".
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Astonishingly, he claimed that "For critics, there's a belief that coal-fired power stations undermine the UK's leadership position on climate change. In fact the opposite is true." Given that burning coal is the single biggest contributor to the man-made CO2 emissions that are rapidly changing our climate, this is a simply bizarre position to take. Hutton tried to justify his position by asserting that new coal plants would be "clean" because carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology would soon be on hand to remove CO2 from the generating process before it is released into the atmosphere. But CCS isn't close to being commercially viable yet, and may well not be for another decade, if at all. So any new coal plants built in the UK are likely to be pumping out vast quantities of CO2 for years to come, completely undermining the government's stated policy of reducing CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
With the government currently considering whether to grant a license for Kingsnorth in Kent, which will be the first new coal-fired plant in Britain for 30 years (with at least seven more planned to follow), Hutton's speech was obviously intended as a declaration of support for a new coal era, and to characterise him as a man prepared to "show leadership" and take difficult decisions. But there's a world of difference between taking difficult decisions and completely nonsensical ones. Hutton cites "tackling climate change and securing our future energy supplies" as his biggest priorities - coal does neither (since around two-thirds of the coal we use is imported). The truth is that coal is back on his agenda for one reason only - it's currently the cheapest energy source on the market.
If Gordon Brown was wondering what sort of reaction
Hutton's kite-flying speech would provoke, he didn't have to wait long. Within
minutes of its end the Press Association's wires were humming with critical
comments, shooting it out of the sky. Here are a few to give you a flavour, starting with a withering critique by leading climate scientist Dr James Hansen:
"If the British Government indeed approves new coal-fired power plants before carbon-capture technology is ready, and if it believes that this egregious action is in any way compensated by restrictions on gas-guzzling vehicles, it is demonstrating a grievous lack of understanding of the gravity and urgency of dealing with climate change.
"If the Government cannot understand the elementary logic and urgency
of the climate problem, which was laid out in a letter that I sent to the Prime
Minister, it may be time for the public to find more astute leadership."
Dr James Hansen, director of the
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
"At a
time when the Government should be working to reduce the UK's emissions,
ministers seem determined to allow a huge new polluting power station. What
planet is John Hutton living on? Without
carbon capture and storage, clean coal is a total myth. This monstrosity will
only emit 20 per cent less than previous coal-fired stations and a massive 75 per cent
more than a gas-powered plant.
Nick Clegg,
Liberal-Democrat Leader
"There
must be a public inquiry [on Kingsnorth], first of all because of the gravity
of what's being proposed and secondly because of what we now know of what has
happened between the department and the application. There's obviously been
very, very close co-operation between the company and the department."
Bob
Marshall-Andrews, Labour MP for Medway (where Kingsnorth is located)
"The
problem is that [Hutton] cannot reconcile his emissions targets with allowing
new-coal fired stations. At the moment they are more efficient than before but
in terms of carbon they are dirty and not clean. Carbon capture and storage on
a commercial scale is a good few years away and so in the short term there
remains an insoluble conflict between building a coal-fired station and
reducing emissions to meet our targets."
Alan Duncan,
Shadow Secretary for Business
"Gordon
Brown says he is committed to helping the developing world. This flies in the
face of such sentiments. Climate change caused by greenhouse gases is already
having a devastating impact on the poor living in parts of the world subject to
extreme weather conditions. Those with the least responsibility for causing the
problem are bearing its brunt."
Andrew
Pendleton, Senior Climate Change Policy Analyst, Christian Aid
"The
reason UK
emissions have risen for the past 10 years is because we have increased our
reliance on coal-fired generation. The
Government cannot expect to meet its legally binding targets, soon to be imposed
through the climate change bill, if it sanctions the development of a new fleet
of unabated coal fired power stations."
Russell
Marsh, Head of Policy, Green Alliance
The list goes on, and it can hardly be music to Gordon's ears. One thing is for sure, a government that is pro-coal, pro-airport expansion and anti-road pricing is NOT one which can be said to be remotely serious about tackling climate change. Their rhetoric has run into the buffers, their fine sentiments exposed as a sham, and the logic of their position is untenable. The Prime Minister needs to pull in his Secretary of State for business and give him an elementary lesson on what constitutes leadership on climate change, beginning with an instruction to reject Kingsnorth. Anything less will leave his aspirations to leadership on this issue in tatters.
