We need to ‘get off oil hook’ says Huhne

Climate Change secretary, Chris Huhne delivered the keynote speech at the Royal Geographical Society Environment and Society Forum today (February 17).


There was no one answer to climate change impact, he said. We need an energy ‘portfolio’ while we move to a low carbon economy, but one thing is certain, we need to “get off the oil hook”.

Climate change does not respect borders, it will affect us all, he said. The catastrophic floods in the UK cost the insurance industry alone £1.3 billion.

Mr Huhne said while climate change is a real danger, he was confident that we can do something about it. Prevention is the best cure, and the answer lies in a low carbon economy.

He repeated the Coalition government’s policy answers to this, focussing on energy efficiency through the Green Deal and a low carbon energy supply using renewables, a new nuclear policy and clean gas through CCS.

Oil and gas will play an important role in the low carbon shift, he said, and the changes will take time.

Policy framework needs to consider various different scenarios and we must keep out options open and “not put all our eggs in one basket”.

Alison Brown

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