26 September 2008 | Luca Del Buono

 

Documents passed to BBC News reveal that Whitehall wants the industry exempted from a general target of 20% renewable energy by 2020.

It also wants interim targets leading up to 2020, and targets on clean energy in new homes, to be optional.

The government says the targets on aviation are pointless while there is uncertainty over the use of biofuels. But green groups are furious at what they believe is part of an on-going campaign to water down renewables legislation.

The UK has already signed up to an EU target to have 20% of Europe's energy from renewable sources by 2020.

That target applies to fuel, as well as electricity. Under current proposals, the aviation sector would be bound by the 20% target. But it is unlikely to manage this sustainably, so it could fall to other sectors of the economy to pick up the slack to achieve the 20% figure overall.

Stripping out aviation would unravel the whole agreement The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) says it is pointless holding aviation to a legally binding target if there is so much uncertainty over biofuels for planes.

It makes more sense, says the government, to remove aviation from the package.

Claude Turmes, the MEP leading negotiations on the renewable energy legislation for the European parliament, says that if aviation is exempted it will be the equivalent of reducing the overall renewables contribution in Europe to 18.5% rather than 20%.

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Source: BBC

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