Government 'still committed to renewables'

The Government has restated its commitment to green energy after a leaked report suggested it has little hope of meeting renewable targets.

The briefing paper, by officials at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, warned that the UK is set to fall well short of the EU target of generating 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

It claimed the best Britain can hope for is to raise the level of renewable energy generation, from the current 5 per cent, to around 9 per cent by the end of the target period.

And officials suggested ministers should consider "what options there are for statistical interpretations of the target that would make it easier to achieve".

The government admitted that admit the targets, which Tony Blair signed up to shortly before standing down as Prime Minister, were "challenging" but insisted that green energy was a key plank of its policy of tackling climate change.

"The UK is fully committed to renewables," a No 10 spokeswoman said. "It is no secret that these are ambitious targets and it will be a major challenge to meet them, not just for the UK but for all EU states.

"It is now for the Commission to propose how the EU-wide targets should be met."

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said the Government was on course to meet its own target of generating 15 per cent of Britain's electricity from renewable sources by 2015.

He said that the government was determined to make its contribution towards achieving the EU target but would not be drawn on whether it could reach 20 per cent by the target date.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne said ministers were trying to "wriggle out" of their commitments on renewables.

"If Government efforts are now to be taken seriously, and not just seen as green window-dressing, ministers must now come forward with an action plan to boost renewables," he said.

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