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Stephen Cirell looks at the new government's commitment so far for the green agenda. The new coalition government has now settled into its work programme, and is already making headway in changing the direction of policy from the former Labour administration. So far as the green agenda is concerned, though, how different will things be under the new government? After all, prime minister, David Cameron, said on entering Number 10 that he wanted this to be ‘the greenest government ever'. In a climate of financial austerity and job cuts, this is welcome news to those involved in this field. Looking at the government itself, swingeing cuts are being required of central government departments. The good news for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is that it is still in business. Government departments regularly change with new administrations, but the DECC has been a success story, and so continues in its old form. Although facing cuts of at least 25%, these are still regarded as lower than other departments. But the CLG might not be so lucky. It also has a key role to play here, in partnership with the DECC. It will be subject to large cuts and, in its intention to become more ‘strategic', there will need to be a capability on the green side. One of the early casualties seems to be the Local Government Low Carbon Frameworks programme, where the £3m of funding has now evaporated. Talking of funds for green investment, the horizon is not too stormy in this regard. The new chancellor came under some criticism around Budget time for not having invested more in the green economy. However, this confirms the deep financial hole that the Government finds itself in, and also its determination to turn things round quickly. Since then, the independent commission set up to examine the proposal for a new Green Investment Bank – ironically established in 2009 by the former chancellor and climate change minister – has reported (June 2010). This policy was adopted by all the main parties in the general election. The commission proposes that a Green Investment Bank be set up to help find the £550bn required up to 2020 ,and to ensure that the targets in the Climate Change Act 2008 are met. This should be established by Act of Parliament with a clear mandate, and should sit with the – also independent – Committee on Climate Change. The establishment of such a bank will show that the UK is serious about its green investment, and will enable many of the so-called ‘roadblocks' to be removed. The Government is to make announcements on this after the Comprehensive Spending Review in October. Funding streams were provided by the former government under the Renewables Obligation (RO) and, more latterly, the Feed In Tariffs (FIT). It had also consulted widely on a new renewable-heat incentive – basically a FIT for heat – from 2011. The RO and FITs seem safe, and will continue as before, although they might be amended. An example of this is the Government's promise to look at whether the FIT limit should be raised from 5MW capacity to a higher level, such as 10MW. Of more concern, is the new government's ambivalence towards the RHI. This is seen as an important plank in renewables policy and there will be widespread concern if the government does not proceed as had originally been planned by its predecessor. It is puzzling to think why it would not want to do so, being strongly supportive of the green financial incentives paid elsewhere. The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will promote heat networks, which are seen as being a key way of reducing fuel poverty in the future. On the regulatory front, the new government has made some bold promises about reducing the burden on local government. In the green field, it has immediately proposed to abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), chaired by Sir Michael Pitt, which had been introduced under the Planning Act 2008. This had been given the task of determining major planning applications in the energy and renewables fields. This move was, of course, based on concerns about how long planning permission was taking for vital infrastructure. The new government has determined to put this responsibility back on local government's shoulders, but with a new Major Infrastructure Planning Unit being created in the Planning Inspectorate. It remains to be seen if this will have the desired effect. In the meantime, the IPC continues, as its formal removal requires primary legislation. Also on the regulatory front is the important work being done on regional strategies. The old regional assemblies were metamorphosed into leaders' boards, under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. Regional strategies were a statutory requirement, being prepared by the leaders board and the RDA at regional level. Section 70 (4) of the 2009 Act required the regional strategies to include polices ‘designed to contribute to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change', and also with the objective of contributing to sustainable development (Section 73). Accordingly, they had an important function in this area. These regional strategies have been revoked with immediate effect under Section 79 (6). The work that was previously done at this level will revert to local authorities – and communities secretary, Eric Pickles makes a saving of £16m at the same time. It will be important to ensure that local authorities continue the work on climate change being done at regional level, and that it does not fall between the cracks with different public bodies at local level. Finally, when looking at national and international targets, the UK submitted at the end of June its report to the European Commission on progress towards the renewable energy targets – under Article 4 of the Renewable Energy Directive. This is the roadmap of how each EU member state will reach the target of 20% renewable energy by 2020 – the UK's contribution to that is 15% target. The new government considers that the existing policy framework, as amended by its new policies will guide the UK safely towards achievement of those targets. It therefore seems that it is going to be very much business as usual on the green front. Stephen Cirell was formerly director for Green Cornwall and is now an independent consultant on climate change

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WHITEHALL

How green is the coalition?

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