This White Paper sets out the UK's transition plan to 2020 for becoming a low carbon country: cutting emissions, maintaining secure energy supply, maximising economic opportunities and protecting the most vulnerable. The plan will deliver emission cuts of 18 per cent on 2008 levels. Key steps include: all government departments to have carbon budgets; 40 per cent of energy from low carbon sources including 30 per cent of energy from renewables; funding of four demonstrations of capturing and storing emissions from coal power stations; new nuclear power stations. Home will be made greener by: £3.2 billion to help households become more energy efficient; rolling out smart meters to all homes by 2020; piloting "pay as you save" schemes; introducing clean energy cash-back schemes; a competition for 15 towns and villages to be pioneers in green innovation. Vulnerable sections of society will be helped by: mandated social price support; piloting a community-based approach to delivering green homes in low income areas, helping around 90,000 homes; increasing Warm Front grants. The greening of industry will be addressed through support for development and use of clean technologies, including £120 million in offshore wind and £60 million towards marine energy. Transport will be transformed: carbon dioxide emissions from new cars to be cut across the EU by 40 per cent on 2007 levels and increased support for electric cars; sourcing 10 per cent of UK transport energy from renewable sources. A framework for emissions from farming will be developed. Also published are "The UK renewable energy strategy" (Cm. 7686, ISBN 9780101768627) and "Low carbon transport" (Cm. 7682, ISBN 9780101768221).

The UK Climate Change Act was the first case of a country implementing blanket legally binding long-term emissions reduction targets in order to combat climate change. This book provides the first accessible and in-depth analysis of the UK’s complex Climate Change Act framework, presenting the discussion in a clear and interdisciplinary manner designed to open the workings of the challenging framework to a broad audience. It discusses the political ‘story’ surrounding the framework, and its treatment in scholarly environmental literature; analyses the technical content of the Act; explores the framework’s international significance, and its internal ‘subnational’ dimensions and impact, engaging the UK’s devolved jurisdictions of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. This first, much-needed interdisciplinary treatment of the framework is both introductory and analytical in nature and will be of interest to scholars, practitioners and general readers of environmental studies, policy and governance.

The Government has missed a big opportunity to kick start a green-industrial revolution with its £3bn fiscal stimulus. Germany, the US, Japan and China have invested billions in their low-carbon industries. But only one sixth of the UK's Government's fiscal stimulus package was devoted to green industry. Many of the policies needed to cut carbon emissions will provide good opportunities to increase employment and could give the UK a competitive advantage in the coming decades. The UK has the potential to take a leading global role in a number of low carbon sectors. Creating a strong home market in off-shore wind could ensure UK companies are well placed to exploit export opportunities to other EU countries - or promising markets such as the US and China. Increasing the speed and scale of the programme to insulate UK homes could also sustain employment and kick start a market estimated to be worth between £3.5 - 6.5 billion a year. Business needs confidence that financial incentives and regulation designed to promote low carbon industries will be maintained. Although it is recognised that the UK government has made significant investment for delivery of its Low Carbon Industrial Strategy and its Low Carbon Transition Plan it is not sufficient to meet emissions targets or to provide the economic advantage needed. It is felt that the Low Carbon Industrial Strategy does not effectively address a transition across the whole economy. The Committee on Climate Change has identified key sectors in which energy savings must be made and the Government's strategy on green jobs must be directly linked to these sectoral targets and green industries developed to achieve these. The Committee also feels that, in particular, a 'quick win' street-by-street programme of energy saving measures for households that will boost employment and keep UK building firms in business should be developed as a priority. The market-based, demand-led approach to skills has not worked because employers are unable to effectively articulate their needs. The Government's new skills strategy must prioritise the skills needed to drive the economy through the low-carbon transition. A body to lead the green skills agenda must be found and low-carbon skills need to be integrated through the whole skills delivery system to encourage behavioural change across the entire economy

Drawing on the work of leading researchers and practitioners from a range of disciplines, including economic geography, economics, economic history, finance, law, and public policy, this edited collection provides a comprehensive assessment of stranded assets and the environment, covering the fundamental issues and debates, including climate change and societal responses to environmental change, as well as its origins and theoretical basis. The volume provides much needed clarity as the discourse on stranded assets gathers further momentum. In addition to drawing on scholarly contributions, there are chapters from practitioners and analysts to provide a range of critical perspectives. While chapters have been written as important standalone contributions, the book is intended to systematically take the reader through the key dimensions of stranded assets as a topic of research inquiry and practice. The work adopts a broad based social science perspective for setting out what stranded assets are, why they are relevant, and how they might inform the decision-making of firms, investors, policymakers, and regulators. The topic of stranded assets is inherently multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral, and multi-jurisdictional and the volume reflects this diversity. This book will be of great relevance to scholars, practitioners and policymakers with an interest in include economics, business and development studies, climate policy and environmental studies in general.