In the past month we have had a dramatic exit from Europe followed by a change of Prime Minister. This has had an impact on Britain’s environmental future. In a previous article ‘Green Building’ examined the impact of Brexit on British environmental policy. This article, however, this article discusses how ‘green’ Britain’s future actually is.
Renewable energy will be the future in terms of sustaining the planet once fossil fuels run out. The BBC informs that investment in renewables reached $286bn worldwide last year. This demonstrates how far the world has come in its advancement of environmental issues. The question is how far has Britain progressed in recent years?
The answer is not very promising
‘Common Dreams’ reported that new Prime Minister Theresa May closed the climate change office. In her reshuffle the move has caused anger among environmentalists including Green Party member and MP Caroline Lucas who tweeted that the move was a serious “step backwards.” She went on to say how climate change is one of the biggest threats the world faces, but the Conservative government had effectively treated it as an afterthought.
In 2015 Britain’s renewable energy sector was very promising. ‘PV Magazine’ reported that in 2015 renewable energy accounted for the biggest piece of the UK’s energy mix. They went on to report that while a 62% increase in the number of solar PV (photovoltaic) shows a positive collaboration between the government and the renewable energy industry, 2016 will see a market decrease. This is due to subsidies being cut to the sector resulting in a slower than expected growth in the first quarter of 2016.
One of the reasons renewable energy has seen such a surge in investment and development is due to changes in the fossil fuel economies. The Telegraph reports that global consumption of coal fell by a record amount last year. This resulted in the use of cheaper gas and oil. While the consumption of gas and oil increased due to the drop in prices this isn’t expected to last long and prices will rise again in the near future. With the fossil fuel economy looking more unpredictable every year investors are turning to sustainable sources of energy.
The drop in oil prices has hit the UK’s oil industry hard. Leading insight market company FXCM to state that the UK’s oil is expensive to develop because of its large offshore component. The declining price has caused some oil-producing assets to be discharged resulting in job losses. With the future of oil uncertain Britain will look to new renewable energy sources. This will have also have a positive step in reducing carbon emissions.
Will Britain ever been green? We hope so one day. Even though recent events have changed government policy there will always be a need for investment and development in renewable energy. The UK is still one of the leading countries when it comes to fighting climate change and these setbacks will not change the need to become a greener more sustainable country in the future.
