Uk/China Low Energy Co-Operation

The Parliamentary Information Office reported in 2010 on the building of the 2050 Pathway Calculator and has been flowing closely its adaptation for use in other countries Unprecedented collaboration between energy strategists from the UK and China will culminate today in the start of a high level conference, 18-21st September in Beijing, aimed at understanding how best to tackle climate change and ensure energy security. Chinas Energy Research Institute (ERI) has been working with its British counterparts to adapt the UK Governments 2050 Calculator to their own economy. The online tool, which will be available to the public, exposes the risks and trade-offs associated with different future energy scenarios. For example: what balance could be struck between energy efficiency and building new power supply? What is the role for new nuclear? Which technologies will be adopted? The UK is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, relative to 1990 levels. We need a transformation of the UK economy while ensuring secure, low carbon energy supplies to 2050, and face major choices about how to do this. In 2010, the Department for Energy and Climate Change built the 2050 Calculator to help the public engage in the debate and for Government to ensure its short- and medium-term planning was consistent with achieving the long-term aim. In the Carbon Plan published in December 2011, the Calculator was used to illustrate three 2050 futures that show some of the plausible routes towards meeting the target The 2050 Pathways work presents a framework through which to consider some of the choices and trade-offs we will have to make over the next forty years. It is system-wide, covering all parts of the economy and all greenhouse gases emissions released in the UK. It is rooted in scientific and engineering realities, looking at what is thought to be physically and technically possible in each sector. The Department for Energy and Climate Change is working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Department for International Development to engage with experts from other countries in developing 2050 Calculators. The 2050 Calculator can be readily adapted for use by other countries: China, Belgium and South Korea have already tailored the Calculator for their own use. Following dialogue between the UK and the Chinese Government, the Chinese Energy Research Institute decided to build their own China 2050 Calculator, to be published at the 2050 Energy and Emissions Pathways Conference. The Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with the support of the British Embassy Beijing, are to jointly host the conference, alongside

Chinas Energy Research Institute (ERI), which will showcase the work to date and look to further countries taking part. Ed Davey, DECC Secretary of State, said: The 2050 Calculator is a ground-breaking tool to help countries better plan their future energy strategy, in a transparent and evidence-based way. We welcome the work of our Chinese colleagues. Using the latest and most detailed data available, ERI have created a tool that allows the user to select how China will achieve its energy security up to 2050. The tool covers the entire energy sector, and will be open to experts and ordinary people alike, to model how different energy decisions will affect the whole country. The UKs 2050 Calculator, the first of its kind created, provides a comprehensive analysis of plausible pathways to a secure, low carbon energy system in the UK to 2050. An online user-friendly web application, My2050, is also available in the UK, which allows the public to develop their own energy scenarios out to 2050. DECC Director of Strategy, Ravi Gurumurthy said: We are collaborating with China and other countries in building a wider base for this innovative and practical analysis, and I would like to invite other interested countries to join us in enriching this collaboration further. Together, the UK and China will engage with other developing and developed countries at the Conference to promote the use of this modelling methodology. The Parliamentary Yearbook will continue to report on environmental issues and their impact on the UK as we go through the months ahead. Web: www.parliamentaryinformationoffice.co.uk Email: parliamentaryyearbook@blakemedia.org 18th September 2012