Is the Labour Party Manifesto an Opportunity for Biofuels and Bioenergy?
by Daryl Worthington (Bioenergy Insight/Biofuels International) The UK Labour Party has published its manifesto for the forthcoming General Election, placing significant emphasis on renewable and sustainable energy sources.
Three principles guide the party’s energy policy: security of the energy supply; affordable energy costs for consumers and businesses; meeting climate change targets and transitioning to a low carbon economy.
A key part of the manifesto includes encouraging the creation of publically owned, locally accountable energy companies and cooperatives to rival existing private energy suppliers. The manifesto also pledges to ensure national and regional grid infrastructure is brought into public ownership over time.
Significantly, the Labour Party insists it will ban fracking as “it would lock us into an energy infrastructure based on fossil fuels, long after the point in 2030 when the Committee on Climate Change says gas in the UK must sharply decline.”
Although options such as biodiesel, bioethanol, biomass and biogas are not mentioned by name, the manifesto stresses a desire to transition to cleaner, lower carbon fuels.
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Labour’s manifesto reflects many energy and fuel policies in common with the UK’s Green Party, however, there are also major differences. Unlike the Green Party, Labour places a strong focus on safeguarding the offshore oil and gas industry. It also advocates support of the nuclear industry, something the Green Party Environmental Manifesto is explicitly against. READ MORE
