{"id":5928,"date":"2015-09-25T16:32:34","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T15:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5928"},"modified":"2015-09-25T16:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-09-25T15:32:34","slug":"torys-green-flag-in-tatters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5928","title":{"rendered":"Tory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s green flag in tatters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Less than a decade ago, current prime minister David Cameron set off to visit a remote Norwegian glacier to witness first-hand the effects of global warming. On a sled to visit the site, he famously posed for a picture hugging a huskie.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe visit was seen as proof that the Conservative party took seriously the threat of climate change and the need to do something about it. Cameron urged voters at the time, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bVote blue to go green.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nNine years later, the Tory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s green energy policy is in tatters, most recently evidenced by the news today (September 25) that power giant Drax would no longer be investing in a technology that reduces carbon emissions generated by coal to virtually zero.<\/p>\n

 
\nDrax announced that it would be pulling out of the White Rose carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire, just months after the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to no longer exempt renewable energy companies from a climate change tax.<\/p>\n

 
\nAlthough Drax\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s partners in the consortium running the White Rose project, Alstom and the BOC industrial gas group, have said that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve committed to completing the CCS scheme, Unite national officer Kevin Coyne was doubtful.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe future of the project is definitely now more uncertain,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bLarge projects such as White Rose need significant investment and government support.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nDisaster<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nCoyne called the withdrawal of Drax, whose complex in North Yorkshire is the biggest energy producer in the UK and in Western Europe, \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba disaster\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe technology is proven and already in use in Canada and Sweden,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt could have been a blueprint for similar projects elsewhere in the UK.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nCoyne explained that the Boundary Dam Power Station in Canada, the first commercial-scale coal-fired power station fitted with CCS technology, which opened last year, has already been a stunning success, one which would not have been possible if it weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for strong government support.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite has called on the government to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstep up to the plate\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 with public investment if the White Rose project is to successfully come to fruition.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe underlying message here is that the private sector has been unable to provide the necessary investment to support the carbon capture initiative \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this should be a salutary lesson,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Coyne said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPrivate sector money is not necessarily the panacea for big nationally important schemes.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThis notion was highlighted today by Drax itself, which said it had to put shareholders first.<\/p>\n

 
\nPeter Emery, a Drax board member chairing the group that is running the White Rose CCS project told the Financial Times that the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcritical reversals\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on support for renewable energy had \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba severe impact on profitability\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe decision is based purely on a drastically different financial and regulatory environment and we must put the interests of the business and our shareholders first,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Emery noted in an official Drax statement.<\/p>\n

 
\nCoyne said that the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to reduce subsidies for renewable energy had contributed to not creating a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bclimate of confidence for private sector investment\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\nEnergy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd defended cuts to renewable subsidies earlier this month, saying that the government needed to keep \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbills as low as possible for hardworking families and businesses across the country.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nCoyne criticised this line or reasoning.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is the same thing that they said about energy privatisation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that it would keep costs for consumers low,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut as we all know the exact opposite has happened.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nAlthough critics of Carbon Capture and Storage say that the technology is far too expensive, Coyne noted that CCS is an important part of a wider, diversified clean energy strategy.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAll low carbon technology is expensive,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bCompanies rely on subsidies because, simply put, energy is extremely expensive. And the cuts to subsidies will mean serious loss of production in other renewables such as wind energy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nCoyne warned that if the government did not change course with its green energy policy, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bit was quite clear\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 that the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s energy capacity would be under serious threat.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCoal-fired power stations will be phased out by 2021 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c six such closures have been announced so far this year,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe energy supply prospects for the UK look bleak.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAmber Rudd needs to get a grip, as five months into the job as energy secretary the strategy to keep the lights on in the decades ahead appears to be rudderless,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Coyne added.<\/p>\n

 
\nGovernment cuts to renewables subsidies were also condemned by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who has been credited with making climate change an issue topping the global political agenda.<\/p>\n

 
\n“The UK’s historic legacy of leadership on the most important moral issues faced by humanity, including the climate crisis, is long and has been recognised with respect by the community of nations,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Gore noted.<\/p>\n

 
\n“It is time for the UK government to honour and live up to that legacy, and return to its global leadership position, domestically and abroad,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\nFollowing changes in the Tory government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s green energy policies, for the first time ever, the UK fell out of the top ten in a respected international league table on renewable energy, dropping below countries such as Brazil and Chile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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