Employers group says that out of 13 low-carbon indicators, only nuclear power remains on track

The government is talking the talk, but failing to walk the walk when it comes to its green policies, according to the CBI’s latest progress report.

The business body’s latest Climate Change Tracker report will be published later today and will argue that out of 13 low-carbon indicators, only one area – nuclear – is showing progress.

In contrast, two low-carbon policy areas – decarbonising existing buildings and industrial energy efficiency – have shown no progress under the current government, while 10 other indicators are deemed to have seen good ambition but insufficient delivery from the coalition.

“One year on from pledging to be the ‘greenest government ever’, the coalition has still not delivered the policy landscape needed to ensure we meet tough emissions targets,” said Katja Hall, the CBI’s chief policy director.

A lack of detail around the Green Investment Bank, Green Deal, Electricity Market Reforms (EMR) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme means the only concrete improvement has come in the form of the government’s announcement of a zero-carbon homes target in March, the CBI says.

The government’s performance against five indicators – carbon capture and storage, planning regulations, the emissions trading scheme, low-carbon vehicles and biofuels – has worsened since last June’s report.

However, a CBI spokesman told BusinessGreen it was possible the next tracker, published at the end of the year, would show significant improvements given the raft of recent policy announcements. However, he warned that businesses were getting frustrated at having to wait for final confirmation on how these policies will operate.

“It feels like we’re waiting on a lot of the details,” he added. “We should have had that by now, but we haven’t. Until we have that detail, businesses can’t have the certainty.”

The CBI tracker warns that investor confidence in the low-carbon sector remains in the doldrums because of this lack of detail, as well as unexpected changes to the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), feed-in tariffs, and the North Sea oil and gas tax regime. In April, the CBI warned that this lack of confidence could mean the UK fails to attract the estimated £150bn of investment required to build new low-carbon infrastructure.

It will today call on the government to underline its backing for the sector by enacting the Energy Bill and Localism Bill by the end of the year, including provisions to streamline fast-track planning decisions for major infrastructure projects.

It will also urge the government to publish its Electricity Market Reform white paper by July, providing greater detail on the transitional arrangements for renewable energy and promised energy national policy statements as soon as is practical.

Secondary legislation for the Green Deal should be forthcoming by the end of the year, the CBI said, while the government must declare which carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration project it will back and decide how future projects are to be funded.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said: “The government stands by its record on green policies over the last year to deliver the low carbon economy,” citing the Green Investment Bank, the fourth Carbon Budget and almost £2bn of public funds earmarked for CCS and the RHI combined.

He added that many of the actions the CBI is calling for will happen in the near future, such as the EMR White Paper, which is scheduled to be published next month.