The UK was supposed to generate 15 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2020. That was the received wisdom. The prime minister himself has referred to it on several occasions*.

In fact British officials in Brussels have negotiated a slightly lower figure which equates to about 14.5 per cent.

This is because the EU-wide target - a more ambitious 20 per cent - will now include an element of aviation despite lobbying against this.

(Curiously, the UK sought to exclude planes with the argument that this would be un-environmental, ie “green” air fuel would come from biofuels, which destroy rainforest.)

In return the target is lower for islands which (in theory) must depend on aviation: the UK, Cyprus, Malta, Ireland and (don’t as me why) The Netherlands.

The difference may not look that big - I’m still trying to work out how many wind farms this equates to - but environmentalists say it is significant. That’s because the first 10 percentage points (or so) can be achieved from biomass and onshore wind farms. Getting beyond that requires difficult projects such as offshore wind and wave power.

A government source says that the tweaking of the targets don’t just apply to the UK so it would be wrong to portray this as a retreat.

Robin Webster, climate campaigner for Friends of the Earth, told me that the overall renewable energy deal was a “major leap forward amidst the back-tracking of the EU climate negotiations”.

But she went on….”It’s disappointing that Britain’s renewable energy target has been cut because we have such a large aviation sector. The government must deal with this rogue industry and take urgent steps to limit the threat it poses to our climate.”

* ”We need a massive expansion of renewables. Britain is fully committed to the EU target that 20 per cent of all energy must come from renewable sources by 2020. Last month Britain set out its strategy to meet our own 15 per cent renewable target - a £100 billion investment programme over the next twelve years.“

December 11, 2008 8:11pm in Europe, UK politics | Comment