Aug62017

Press release: Independent review to ensure energy is affordable for households and businesses

DEFRA

An independent review into the cost of energy led by Professor Dieter Helm CBE will recommend ways to keep energy prices as low as possible as part of the Industrial Strategy, Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark announced today.

Professor Dieter Helm, one of Britain’s leading energy experts, will look specifically at how the energy industry, government and regulators can keep the cost of electricity as low as possible, while ensuring the UK meets its domestic and international climate targets.

This ambitious review builds on the commitment made in the Industrial Strategy green paper and will consider the whole electricity supply chain – generation, transmission, distribution and supply. It will look for opportunities to reduce costs in each element and consider the implications of the changing demand for electricity, including the role of innovative technologies such as electric vehicles, storage, robotics and artificial intelligence.

The ambition is for the UK to have the lowest energy costs in Europe, for both households and businesses.

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said:

All homes and businesses rely on an affordable and secure energy supply and the government is upgrading our energy system to make it fit for the future. We want to ensure we continue to find the opportunities to keep energy costs as low as possible, while meeting our climate change targets, as part of the Industrial Strategy.

The review will consider how we can take advantage of changes to our power system and new technologies to ensure clean, secure and affordable supplies over the coming decades. Professor Helm will bring invaluable expertise to the review, and I look forward to seeing his recommendations.

Professor Helm is one of Britain’s leading energy experts, a Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford and a Fellow in Economics at New College Oxford, and a former member of the Council of Science and Technology, advising the UK Prime Minister from 2004 to 2007.

Professor Dieter Helm CBE said:

I am delighted to take on this Review. The cost of energy always matters to households and companies, and especially now in these exceptional times, with huge investment requirements to meet the decarbonisation and security challenges ahead over the next decade and beyond. Digitalisation, electric transport and smart and decentralised systems offer great opportunities. It is imperative to do all this efficiently, to minimise the burdens. Making people and companies pay excessively for policy and market inefficiencies risks undermining the objectives themselves.

My review will be independent and sort out the facts from the myths about the cost of energy, and make recommendations about how to more effectively achieve the overall objectives.

The government is already taking action, and has asked the regulator to come forward with proposals to extend the price protection currently in place for some vulnerable energy consumers to more people on the poorest value tariffs. This builds on action taken to cap the price for 4 million pre-payment meter customers which came into force on 1 April 2017.

There are also a number of schemes in place to reduce energy bills by improving energy efficiency, such as the Energy Company Obligation which will upgrade 200,000 homes each year and help tackle fuel poverty. For business, the package of relief for energy intensive industries was worth £260 million last year and there are financial incentives to switch to cleaner fuels and processes.

This review will consider the electricity system as a whole and make recommendations on how to deliver affordable energy over the coming decades. It follows the plan set out in July by government and Ofgem for a smarter energy system and the commitment to ensure Britain’s energy costs are as low as possible.

An advisory panel will support the reviewer by providing expert insights in a personal capacity:

  • Terry Scuoler CBE, Chief Executive of EEF, the Manufacturers’ Organisation
  • Nick Winser CBE, Chairman of the Energy Systems Catapult
  • Laura Sandys, Chief Executive of Challenging Ideas
  • Isobel Sheldon, Engineering & Technology Director of Johnson Matthey Battery Systems
  • Richard Nourse, Managing Partner of Greencoat Capital LLP

Notes to editors:

  1. The commitment to review the cost of energy was set out on page 94 of the Industrial Strategy Green Paper

  2. Ofgem figures show the main costs of supplying a typical domestic customer are 4% lower than at January 2015.

  3. The Terms of Reference of the Review are set out below:

    • The government has the ambition for the UK to have the lowest energy costs in Europe, for both households and businesses.

    • The UK was the first country in the world to set a long-term, legally binding target for emission reduction. The Climate Change Act commits the UK to reduce emissions by at least 80% by 2050, and sets a framework for the setting of rolling five-year carbon budgets. Parliament has recently approved the 5th carbon budget, for the period 2028-2032, at a 57% reduction on 1990 levels.

    • The carbon targets need to be met, whilst concurrently ensuring security of supplies of energy, in the most cost-effective way. The rapid closure of coal, the aging of the existing nuclear fleet, the intermittency of some renewables, the scope for demand management and new storage, the coming of electric vehicles and the timing of future nuclear capacity coming on stream will be taken into account in considering how best to meet the overall objective of system security of supply.

    • The specific aim of this review is to report and make recommendations on how these objectives can be met in the power sector at minimum cost and without imposing further costs on the exchequer. In that context the review will consider the implications of the changing demand for power, including from industry, heat and transport.

    • The review will report on the full supply chain of electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply, and consider the opportunities to reduce costs in each part, taking into account the roll-out of smart meters and the work already underway to underpin the transition to a smarter energy system.

    • The review will set out options for a long term road map for the power sector, and consider how technological change in the wider economy, as well as in the energy sector, may transform the power sector, and how energy policy can best facilitate and encourage such developments, consistent with the overall objectives of decarbonisation and security of supply, and with its industrial strategy.

    • The review will consider the options for enhancing and extending the scope for auctions and other competitive mechanisms, and for reducing the complexity across the full supply chain of electricity generation.

    • The review will consider the key factors affecting energy bills, including but not limited to energy and carbon pricing, energy efficiency, distributed generation, regulation of the networks, and innovation and R&D. The review will not propose detailed tax changes.

    • The review will focus on system issues and will not comment on the status of individual projects.

    • The review will provide recommendations as to how best minimise the costs of energy consistent with the overarching objectives, taking account of the costs and benefits of the recommendations. It will set out options for developing and enhancing energy policy. Where the issues the review covers fall to other players, for example Ofgem, it will make recommendations about how government can best work with them to reduce costs.

    • The review will report at the end of October 2017.


  4. Professor Dieter Helm – declaration of interest
    (PDF, 10KB, 1 page)

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Aug52017

Speech: In a world where North Korean missile tests seem routine, let me be clear: this is not business as usual.

HM Government

Thank you Mr President.

North Korea is no longer a threat faced by a single country or a single region. It is instead a threat that confronts us all. These two tests in the last month were of an intercontinental missile, extending the threat much further than before, to many more countries. In a world where North Korean missile tests seem routine, let me be clear: this is not business as usual.

Make no mistake, as North Korea’s missile capabilities advance, so too does their contempt and disregard for this Security Council. We must meet this belligerence with clear, unequivocal condemnation and with clear, unequivocal consequences.

Today Mr. President, we have banned North Korean exports of coal, iron ore, lead and seafood. These are the lifeline exports that sustain Kim Jong-Un’s deadly aspirations. In simple terms, should the North Korean regime continue its reckless pursuit of an illegal missile programme and a deadly nuclear programme, they will have vastly less resources to do so.

We have also capped the number of foreign workers from North Korea. Every year DPRK sends thousands of ordinary workers overseas. They often endure poor conditions and long hours, and their toil serves to provide critical foreign currency for North Korean government coffers. This is undoubtedly a form of modern slavery and today we have taken the first step to ending it. The world will now monitor and curtail work authorisations for these desperate expatriates.

And for those who are already a victim of this abusive system, trust that the United Kingdom will continue to work toward a complete end to North Korea’s institutionalized modern slavery.

Mr. President,

North Korea bears full responsibility for the measures we have enacted today. By acting in flagrant violation of its legal obligations, by going against the will of the Security Council expressed in countless Resolutions, North Korea has chosen the path it now finds itself on. It is a path that, at a minimum, will lead to the further suffering for its own people, and at most could prove to be catastrophic for the whole world.

It does not have to be this way. North Korea should forgo the path of provocation; forgo the path of further escalation. There is no reason why the people of North Korea cannot share the normal, prosperous life of their neighbours. The world would welcome them, not threaten them.

So in this Chamber let us once again call on North Korea to halt and reverse its nuclear and missile development programmes. Let us once again call on them to prioritise the well being of their people over their illegal and destabilising military programmes.

North Korea’s security and wellbeing do not depend on nuclear weapons. They do not depend on far reaching missiles. They do not depend on a myth of self-sufficient defiance of the wider world. To live in constant tension with the world cannot be in the interests of North Korea’s regime, let alone its people.

Mr. President,

We have taken a step forward. We have spoken with a unified voice that we are ready to act in an unprecedented way in response to North Korea’s reckless nuclear pursuit. Every country must ensure that these measures are adhered to. Every country must live up to our word. This time there is too much at stake. We simply cannot afford to fail.

Thank you.

Aug52017

UN imposes tougher sanctions on DPR Korea over ballistic missile launches

United Nations

5 August 2017 – In response to the launches of ballistic missiles of possible intercontinental range by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United Nations Security Council today moved to strengthen sanctions on the Northeast Asian country’s exports.

In a resolution adopted unanimously, the 15-member body strongly condemned the DPRK’s ballistic missile launches on 3 July and 28 July, which the country has stated were of &#8220intercontinental&#8221 range.

The Council reaffirmed previous Council decisions that the DPRK not conduct further launches using ballistic missile technology, nuclear tests, or any other provocation.

The Council moved to significantly strengthen the sanctions on the DPRK, imposing a full ban on the export of coal, iron and iron ore from the DPRK. Previously these items could be exported for livelihood purposes, with a cap on the amount.

The Council also prohibited countries from increasing the total number of work authorizations for DPRK nationals. It banned new joint ventures or cooperative entities with DPRK entities or individuals as well as additional investments in existing joint ventures.

Member States are requested to report to the Security Council, within 90 days of the adoption of this resolution, on concrete measures they have taken to effectively implement this resolution.

The Council also designated several additional individuals for a travel ban and assets freeze, as well as designating entities for an assets freeze.

On the political front, the Council calls for their resumption of the Six-Party Talks and reiterated its support for the commitments set forth in the Joint Statement of 19 September 2005 issued by China, the DPRK, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States.

The commitments included that the goal of the Six-Party Talks is the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner, and that the United States and the DPRK respect each other’s sovereignty and exist together peacefully.

Aug52017

UN notified of US intention to withdraw from Paris climate pact

United Nations

4 August 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today received a notification from the delegation of the United States expressing the country’s intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change as soon as it is eligible to do so, his spokesman has confirmed.

The notification came two months after President Donald Trump announced his intention to leave the accord.

“As the Secretary-General said in a statement on 1 June 2017, the decision by the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement is a major disappointment for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote global security,” said UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in a note sent tonight to correspondents.

Under article 28 of the Paris Agreement, a Party may withdraw at any time after three years from the date on which the Agreement has entered into force for that Party, and such withdrawal takes effect upon expiry of one year from the date of receipt by the Depositary of the notification of withdrawal. The United States accepted the Paris Agreement on 3 September 2016 and the Agreement entered into force for the United States on 4 November 2016.This means that the US must stay in the pact until at least 2019.

The communication says the US intends to exercise its right to withdraw, unless it identifies suitable terms for reengagement.

The Secretary General welcomes any effort to reengage in the Paris Agreement by the United States, Mr. Dujarric said.

“It is crucial that the United States remains a leader on climate and sustainable development. Climate change is impacting now. He looks forward to engaging with the American government and all other actors in the United States and around the world to build the sustainable future for our children and future generations,” he added.

The Spokesman said that the Secretary-General is the depositary of the Agreement, and will circulate the text of this communication as a notification, in English and French, early next week.

Aug52017

Press release: Foreign Office Minister welcomes tougher sanctions on North Korea

HM Government

The UN resolution strengthens sanctions against North Korea following their recent ballistic missile tests.

On 5 August all UN Security Council members agreed the new UN resolution (UNSCR 2371). This will bring in new measures against North Korea, including restricting its access to the international financial system, capping the number of its overseas workers, and banning its exports of coal, iron, iron ore, seafood and lead.

The Foreign Office Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, said:

The UK and our international partners are united in opposing and standing firm against the threat posed by North Korea. This resolution will cut the resources that North Korea is abusing to fund its reckless and illegal pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

North Korea has chosen this extremely dangerous and destabilising path. The regime is prioritising the pursuit of these weapons over and above its people, peace and stability in the region. The North Korean regime needs to change its course immediately and the UK calls on all countries to implement these new measures fully and robustly.

Further information