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The UK needs to shift to renewables to protect itself from energy crises such as the current one, politicians and experts have said.The country has been urged to move to this “incredibly cheap” and green source of energy as household bills are set to rocket yet again.The current energy crisis behind the rising cost of living has been sparked by surging gas prices, shining a light on the UK’s reliance on this fossil fuel. MPs and experts have said renewables are the answer to making the UK less vulnerable to this volatile market.Adam Corlett, the principal economist at the Resolution Foundation think-tank, told The Independent the current energy crisis “puts up in lights both our over-reliance on fossil fuels, and how we should have done more to ensure that everyone’s home is well-insulated”.He said: “Britain’s energy bills crisis is far from over – and should serve as a warning to quicken our transition towards a net zero economy”.A further increase to the energy price cap was confirmed on Thursday, paving the way for millions to see household bills rise by more than 50 per cent. Following this, Sam Hall, the chair of the  Conservative Environment Network, said: “We’ll be exposed to similar crises for as long as we are so reliant on gas”.He added: “The government must now deliver its net zero strategy to make UK households less exposed to global gas markets.”A Telegraph report has suggested that Cabinet ministers are questioning whether the move to net zero emissions – which the government has committed to by 2050 – was the right thing to do amid the energy crisis and soaring bills.But Ed Miliband, the shadow climate change and net zero secretary, told The Independent a “failure to transition to zero carbon” has made the UK “more vulnerable as a country”. “Climate delay will make us more dependent on fossil fuels, leaving us more exposed to unstable global gas prices, meaning higher bills, and undermining our energy security,” he said. Jamie Peters from environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth told The Independent: “Renewable energy is incredibly cheap and there’s an abundance of it at our fingertips. Knowing this, every effort should be made to increase our supply, and attempts to discredit the net zero agenda shouldn’t be taken seriously.”On the same day the UK’s energy price cap increased, Rishi Sunak said he wanted to encourage more investment in oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. But Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said the UK would not emerge from the energy crisis through a “rapid U-turn to the fossil fuel era”. Writing inThe Independent, she said the solution was through “rapidly speeding up the transition to energy efficiency and renewables so we address the climate emergency and make ourselves less vulnerable to global price rises”. Greg Hands, the energy minister, also said the UK needs to generate “more clean, secure and affordable power” in order to protect itself from volatile gas prices, as he “debunked” some “myths” around energy. Experts have previously told The Independent the current energy crisis has been fuelled by the government dragging its feel on renewable energy – which faced a blow when a previous Tory government removed subsidies for onshore wind farms for several years. A Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesperson said: “Since 2010 we have delivered a 500 per cent increase in the amount of renewable energy capacity connected to the grid – more than any other government in British history.“We remain committed to go even further and faster to build a homegrown renewables sector and reduce our reliance on volatile fossil fuels, and just last month we launched the biggest renewable energy auction to accelerate deployment.” More

Rishi Sunak has been criticised for a “mind-blowing” announcement he wants to encourage more investment in new fossil fuel drilling, with environmental groups saying this was a step in the wrong direction. Campaigners accused the chancellor of “siding” with the oil and gas industry and hypocrisy given current climate goals.Scientists previously said there was no room for new fossil fuels if the world wants to reach net zero emissions by 2050 – with the UK having set this target for itself. But Mr Sunak said on Thursday he wanted to encourage investment in the North Sea given the resources there.“We’re going to need natural gas as part of our transition to getting to net zero,” he said. “And in the process of getting from here to there, if we can get investment in the North Sea that supports British jobs, that’s a good thing.”But his comments have been slammed by environmental campaigners and climate policy experts. “For Rishi Sunak to encourage new investment in drilling for fossil fuels in the North Sea is utterly mind-blowing,”  Giles Bristow from climate crisis charity Ashden told The Independent.“Climate change is here – now. The business community accepts the science that unequivocally tells us we have to move on from old, dirty fossil fuels and deliver a rapid but managed transition to a clean net zero economy.”According to the International Energy Agency, natural gas is the “cleanest burning” fossil fuel – but this still emits greenhouse gases. Gas prices has also been held responsible for the ongoing energy crisis, which has resulted in rising household bills in the UK. A further energy price cap increase was confirmed on Thursday, paving the way for bills to increase yet again in spring. Tessa Khan from campaign group Uplift told The Independent: “The chancellor has chosen to side with the oil and gas industry.“Yesterday, he dumped all the costs of soaring gas prices on UK households rather than claw back some of the obscene profits these companies are making.”Meanwhile Jamie Peters from Friends of the Earth said: “The chancellor acknowledges that the energy crisis is a result of our dependency on gas, but then declares his ambition to unlock £11bn of investment in the North Sea. He added: “This is blatant hypocrisy after months of government posturing in the run up to the UN climate talks.”The Treasury has been approached for comment. More

The UK needs a new motoring tax for electric cars to avoid “zero revenue” by 2040, MPs have said. The Transport select committee called for a change in the current taxation system to reflect a move towards greener vehicles. Pure electric cars are exempt from road tax and their motorists do not have to pay fuel duty either – both of which bring in around £35bn a year, according to the report.The parliamentary committee said: “Policies to deliver net zero emissions by 2050 are likely to result in zero revenue for the government from motoring taxation by 2040.”“In addition to generating taxation to fund essential public services, motoring taxation plays a key role in managing congestion by regulating demand to use public roads.”The MPs added: “If the government fail radically to reform motoring taxation, the UK faces an under-resourced and congested future.”The report urged the Treasury and the Department for Transport to have a “honest conversation” about how to maintain investment in roads and public services as the UK moves towards vehicles that do not pay towards these two motoring levies. It said the departments should work together to set up an arm’s length body to come up with recommendations for a new road-charging mechanism by the end of the year.The sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2030 in a move designed to kick-start the electric vehicle market. A survey last year found participants believed electric cars will already outnumber diesel ones on UK roads by this time. Huw Merriman, the Tory chair of the Transport Committee, said zero-emission vehicles were part of “ambitious” government plans to get the UK to net zero emissions by 2050.“However, the resulting loss of two major sources of motor taxation will leave a £35bn black hole in finances unless the government acts now – that’s 4 per cent of the entire tax take,” he said.“Only £7bn of this goes back to the roads; schools and hospitals could be impacted if motorists don’t continue to pay.” Steve Gooding from the RAC Foundation said the “silver-lining of zero-carbon motoring comes wrapped in a cloud of trouble for the chancellor”.The director of the transport policy and research group said: “Drivers choosing to go electric deserve to know what is coming next – particularly if the promise of cheap per-mile running costs is set to be undermined by a future tax change.A government spokesperson said: “The government has committed to ensuring that motoring tax revenues keep pace with the changes brought about by the switch to electric vehicles, whilst keeping the transition affordable for consumers.“We will respond to the committee’s recommendations in full in due course.” More

Rishi Sunak has said he wants to encourage more investment in new fossil fuel drilling – potentially derailing the UK’s climate targets.Scientists said in the run-up to the COP26 climate summit last year that new fossil fuel exploitation is incompatible with reaching net zero in time.But the chancellor said on Thursday that encouraging drilling under the North Sea would “support British jobs” and should get the green light.”I want to make sure that people acknowledge that we should also exploit our domestic resources,” he told a press conference.”We have resources in the North Sea, and we want to encourage investment in that because we’re going to need natural gas as part of our transition to getting to net zero.”And in the process of getting from here to there, if we can get investment in the North Sea that supports British jobs, that’s a good thing. So that has to be part of the mix as well.”The chancellor’s comments come after the government invited oil and gas companies to help write a rulebook on whether new drilling complies with the UK’s climate obligations.Ministers have previously been accused by environmentalists of living in a “fantasy” for claiming new drilling is compatible with taking action to tackle the climate emergency.Mr Sunak’s comments conflict with a report by the International Energy Agency, commissioned by the UK’s own Cop26 president Alok Sharma, which warned last year that new oil and gas production was incompatible with reaching net zero by 2050. A separate domestic review carried out by the government, however, said that drilling could proceed subject to some conditions.Those conditions are now set to be determined in part by the industry itself, which has been invited to develop a “checkpoint” that would decide which drilling projects could proceed.The International Energy Agency’s pathway to net zero by 2050, drawn up in May 2021, says that, under a balanced scenario, “there are no new oil and gas fields approved for development” after 2021. More

EU member states are to take legal action against the European Commission after it decided to count natural gas and nuclear power as green energy.The European Union’s executive controversially included the two fuels in its “taxonomy” this week – opening the door to more investment in them.The rules spell out what can be classed as “environmentally friendly” for the purposes of investing, an increasingly valuable category when it comes to attracting capital. Critics accused the Commission of “greenwashing” the fuels, which emit carbon and produce long-life radioactive waste respectively.But Commission officials say the two fuels are only included in the plans subject strict conditions: a CO2 emissions limit for gas and for nuclear, a requirement to have a plan and funding for dealing with waste. Now two member states, Austria and Luxembourg, have said they will challenge the policy proposal in the courts.Austrian minister for climate protection Leonore Gewessler, a Green, said the Commission was satisfying the “wishes of the nuclear power lobby” and said his government “will bring a lawsuit to the European Court of Justice”.Meanwhile Luxembourg’s minister for energy Claude Turmes said: “Luxembourg strongly reaffirms its opposition to the inclusion of nuclear and fossil gas in the decision on EU Taxonomy for ‘sustainable’ finance of the EU Commission. We will consider further legal steps together with Austria.”The European Council and Parliament could yet object to the Commission’s move, but blocking it would require the agreement of 20 of the 27 national leaders or a majority in the parliament.The decision highlights the different approaches to green energy in different member states. Germany, which has significant political heft at EU level, relies heavily on gas, while France produces most of it electricity from nuclear energy.Some of the bloc’s eastern states including Poland still rely heavily on coal power. Other countries, like Spain – which is also against the decision – have invested heavily in renewable energy.Energy commissioner Mairead McGuinness said the inclusion of gas and nuclear was important because “we need to use all the tools at our disposal” to reach the climate-neutral target. She said private investment was “key”. More

The government has given the green light for an expansion of Bristol Airport to the dismay of the council which originally rejected the plans.The decision comes just weeks after the UK – which has committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 – hosted the global Cop26 climate summit.Bristol Airport’s application to expand was originally rejected by North Somerset Council. But this was overturned by a government agency on Wednesday following an appeal.This means the airport will be able to go ahead with plans that will see capacity increase from 10 million passengers a year to 12 million.The Planning Inspectorate, who made thedecision, looked at how the proposal could impact air quality, the climate crisis and noise.It concluded: “The balance falls in favor of the grant of planning permission.”Local politicians have fiercely criticised the decision.Carla Denyer, a Bristol City councilor and co-leader of the Green Party, said: “Allowing Bristol Airport to expand – more than doubling its capacity – is an outrageous decision that is totally incompatible with the climate emergency.“The government’s intervention on the side of the airport goes against the wishes of local people, councils and elected representatives.”North Somerset Council, which rejected the original application, said it was considering whether there are grounds for appeal.“This simply flies in the face of local democracy and disregards the views of the local communities who fought equally hard to resist the expansion,” council leader Don Davies said.“It completely undermines our vision for a greener North Somerset, our determination to tackle the climate emergency, and the target we have set for the area to be carbon-neutral by 2030.”The Planning Inspectorate said there was no doubt the proposal “would increase CO2 emissions from aircraft”.But considering factors such as national policy and measures already in place, it said: “The conclusion must be that the aviation emissions are not so significant that they would have a material impact on the government’s ability to meet its climate change target and budgets.”Dan Norris, West of England metro mayor, criticised the government’s lack of policy on the expansion of UK airports.“I am dismayed but not at all surprised by this decision. The government is in chaos on UK airport expansion as on pretty much everything else,” he said.North Somerset Conservative MP Liam Fox said he was “hugely disappointed” at the appeal being allowed, and environmental campaigners also criticized the decision.“The local transport infrastructure around Bristol Airport cannot sustain this amount of traffic without substantially impacting the quality of life in many of our towns and villages,” Mr Fox added.Dave Lees, chief executive of Bristol Airport, said: “The decision is excellent news for our region’s economy, allowing us to create thousands of new jobs in the years ahead.“We will now push ahead with our multi million-pound plans for net-zero operations by 2030 and look forward to working with stakeholders and the community to deliver sustainable growth.”The airport said the expansion would add 800 jobs at the site itself and up to 5,000 more across the region.It sai in a statement: “Bristol Airport put sustainability at the heart of their expansion proposals and will now push ahead with its multi-million pound plans for net zero operations by 2030.”The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to which the Planning Inspectorate for England belongs, has been approached for comment More

Ministers are looking into the environmental impact of all new post-Brexit trade deals, the government has confirmed.They will also explore the possibility of applying a policy of net gain – which aims to leave the natural environment in a better state than before – to trade, according to a response to recommendations from MPs. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) made a host of suggestions last year in a report which said there were concerns over the potential impact of UK trade agreements on international levels of biodiversity.The MPs called on ministers to use “sustainability impact assessments” for future deals, after a minister told the committee last January he was in favour of the idea but could not make committments on behalf of the government. The government response – published on Monday – said it carried out impact assessments for post-Brexit trade deals that look at “several aspects of the environment” – including greenhouse gas emissions, air and water quality and biodiversity. “The Secretary of State for International Trade will work closely with other government departments to assess the environmental impacts of new FTAs, and to improve their coverage and approach,” it added. While the government agreed to look into the possibility of embedding environmental net gain into trade decisions, it rejected another EAC suggestion to evaluate all tax changes against environmental goals. The government said it would not be “practical, cost effective or beneficial” to look into the “detailed environmental impacts for every tax change” – such as to personal allowances for income tax.Philip Dunne, the Tory chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said he was “very pleased” to see the government accepting some of the suggestions made in the report on the UK’s footprint on global biodiversity.“Embedding nature protection in trade agreements not only safeguards biodiversity, but it sends a striking message to trading partners that this must be prioritised,” he said.Katie White from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) welcomed confirmation the government was “giving greater consideration to the impact of trade on the environment”.But she added: “Vague commitments about environmental assessments won’t be enough – ministers need to go further to use trade to drive the transition to greener farming. “That means establishing core standards, including environmental standards, for all foods sold in the UK, and a new legally-binding target to slash the UK’s global environmental footprint by 2030.” More

Ministers are being slow to act on potentially deadly air pollution because they are “cowards”, an MP has said Geraint Davis, the Labour chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Air Pollution, told The Independent the government had a “duty” to clean up its air for its citizens — and that this was not happening fast enough. He urged ministers to implement a stricter threshold on what constitutes dangerous levels of air pollution. This was also recommended by a coroner last year, who found excessive pollution contributed to the death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah in 2013.MPs voted down a proposal to bring the UK’s legal limits in line with the World Health Organisation’s last October. Mr Davis told The Independent more needed to be done to tackle air pollution in the UK. “The UK governments are being so slow to act on such a critical issue because they are fundamentally cowards waiting for the public to catch up on the fact this is so damaging for the families,” he said. The chair of the APPG on air pollution added: “Parents have a duty to protect their children’s right to life. And the government has got a duty to ensure they can by cleaning up all of air.”He suggested there was a reluctance to toughen up legal pollution limits because it would mean “suddenly” having to take significant action, such as by banning wood-burning stoves and restricting the number of cars. “But the truth is, we should ban wood-burning stoves and we should limit the number of diesel-belching cars,” the Labour MP for Swansea West said. “So they should impose the guidelines for the very reasons they haven’t.”Public Health England has previously called air pollution the UK’s “biggest environmental threat to health”, estimating long-term exposure contributes to up to 36,000 deaths a year. Poor air quality has been linked to a host of health problems, including heart and lung disease, lung cancer and making asthma worse. A Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs spokesperson said: “Air pollution has reduced significantly since 2010 – at a national level emissions of fine particulate matter have fallen by 11 per cent, while emissions of nitrogen oxides are at their lowest level since records began.!They added: “To continue to drive forward tangible and long-lasting improvements to air quality we are committed to setting stretching and ambitious targets on air quality through our Environment Act.”After rejecing bringing UK air pollution limits in line with the WHO’s last year, the government said it would run a public consultation in 2022 and aim to bring in new legislation by autumn. More