The influential House of Commons Science and Technology Committee in January quizzed EI President Malcolm Brinded and other energy experts on the crucial decisions needed to be taken by the Government to meet the UK’s emissions reduction targets. 

MPs questioned Lord Deben and Chris Stark of the Committee on Climate Change, Guy Newey from the Energy Systems Catapult, Professor Jim Watson of the UK Energy Research Centre and Malcolm on the technologies and policies required to meet these targets, as well as how best to accelerate clean growth.

EI President, Malcolm Brinded

Malcolm called for the UK Government to focus on the export opportunities of clean growth innovation, through a more integrated strategy between the Departments for Business, International Development, Transport and Trade.

With global energy demand set to soar as billions of people in lower and middle-income countries move into the middle classes, he stressed the ‘major opportunity for UK plc to be involved in supporting the innovations, technologies, businesses and start-ups that can make an impact’ to this emerging challenge.

He also outlined the need to test at scale the ‘big solutions’, in particular Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage. ‘CCS is going to be an essential component of any negative emissions strategy for the world to get to 2°C and certainly to 1.5°C’ he said, and testing at scale ‘is an opportunity for the UK to be at the front of that.’

Malcolm was appearing following submission late last year of written evidence from a group of engineering bodies including the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Energy Institute to the Committee’s inquiry into technologies for meeting clean growth emissions reduction targets.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Energy Institute