Government Issues UK Renewable Energy Strategy

In parallel to the publication of its Low Carbon Transition Plan, the Government also published yesterday its Renewable Energy Strategy (the Strategy), which sets out in particular how the UK could meet its renewable energy targets for 2020. The Strategy will be of particular interest to all stakeholders within the renewable energy industry.

The aim of the Strategy is to enable the Government to tackle climate change and reduce the UK's emissions of carbon dioxide by over 750 million tonnes between now and 2030. The Government hopes that these aims will promote security of energy supply, reduce overall fossil fuel demand by 10% and gas imports by 20-30% against what they would have otherwise been by 2020. A further potential benefit of implementing the Strategy would be the expansion of economic opportunities through the creation of half a million more jobs in the UK renewable energy sector resulting in around £100 billion of new investment.