Uitslag Britse verkiezingen: duurzame energie op lager pitje

LibDem minister voor klimaatverandering, Ed Davey, ruimt het veld.

De Britse verkiezingen zijn geëindigd in een dramatisch slachtveld van gebroken politieke carrières. Drie partijleiders, Ed Miliband (Labour), Nick Clegg (LibDem) en Nigel Farage (UKIP) hebben hun harp aan de wilgen gehangen. Cameron (Tory) heeft overtuigend gewonnen - tegen de verwachtingen in!

Wat betekent dit voor het klimaat cum energiebeleid?

Onder de titel, 'Ed Davey becomes first cabinet minister to lose seat since 1997', rapporteren Mikey Smith en Emily Beament in 'The Mirror':

… Having been appointed as employment relations, consumer and postal affairs minister in 2010, he was promoted to Energy and Climate Change Secretary in February 2012, after his Lib Dem colleague Chris Huhne was forced to resign when he was charged with perverting the course of justice by making his wife take his speeding points.

The job, one of six Cabinet positions the Lib Dems held as junior partners in the coalition, gave the party the chance to exercise their green credentials.

Mr Davey claimed credit for leading the bid to secure a "massive increase" in renewable electricity in the UK and for winning concessions from the Treasury over a potential target to slash emissions from the power sector by 2030 and preserving targets to cut emissions in the mid-2020s.

And he led negotiations for the UK on the world stage at UN climate talks in Qatar, Poland and Peru.

But he admitted earlier this year it was "quite likely" he would no longer be Energy and Climate Change Secretary by the time crucial talks on securing a new global deal to tackle change take place in Paris in December.

In his losing speech, he said he was very proud of his party for its action on the environment.

Lees verder hier.

Onder de titel, 'We'll scrap funds for windfarms', schreef Ben Goddard voor 'County Times':

The Prime Minister has pledged to stop future government funding to windfarm projects including the delayed inquiry and to give local people the final say – if he is re-elected today.

David Cameron visited Crickhowell on Wednesday when he was quizzed over the delay of any announcement on the results of the Mid Wales Conjoined Wind Farm Inquiry which could see five windfarms built across Powys with each consisting of between 17 and 65 turbines up to 450 feet tall. ...

Mr Cameron pledged to stop the windfarm project and any other on-shore windfarms within Montgomeryshire if he was elected to take a second term in Government.

He said: “You would have to ask the environment secretary who took that decision and that was a decision for him.

“However, I want to make it clear that if there is a Conservative Government in place we will remove all subsidy for on-shore wind and local people should have a greater say.

“Frankly I think we have got enough on-shore wind and we have enough to be going on with, almost 10 per cent of our electricity needs, and I think we should give local people a say if they want to block these sorts of projects.

“The only way to stop more on-shore wind is to vote Conservative there is no other party with this policy. We are saying very clearly we would remove the subsidy and give local people the power to say yes or no.

“This would end the growth of on-shore wind and if that’s what you care about you must vote Conservative.”

Aldus Cameron.

Lees verder hier.

En onder de titel, 'Tory Victory Means Change at the Top at DECC', rapporteert Jon Mainwaring voor 'Rigzone':

The Conservative Party's victory in the UK General Election, in which the party secured a slim majority, means that it will be able to put its own man in at the top of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

During the past five years, the Conservatives – without a majority in the House of Commons – have had to share power with the Liberal Democrats. This meant agreeing to have a LibDem Member of Parliament in the key position of Secretary of State for Energy – a position most recently held by Ed Davey (who lost his seat in Thursday's election).

However, a Conservative majority in Parliament now means that they do not need the support of any other party and can install one of their own MPs at the top of DECC. The result of the election should help to move forward the establishment of an onshore shale gas industry in the UK as the Conservatives are fully behind drilling for shale gas in the country.

Lees verder hier.

Cameron, die aanvankelijk de ambitie had de groenste regering ooit te vormen, is dus op zijn schreden teruggekeerd. Verstandig en moedig! Bovendien blijkt deze metamorfose zich in politieke winst te vertalen! Zou Nederland daaraan een voorbeeld kunnen nemen?

Voor mijn eerdere DDS–bijdragen zie hier.