Government climate advisers say cut fossil fuels to lower energy bills

Image source, Getty Images

The government's climate advisers say that the best way to ease consumers' pain from high energy prices is to stop using fossil fuels.

Some Conservative MPs want the government to increase production of gas in the North Sea.

Advisers said that UK-produced gas would be sold internationally and that it wouldn't affect the consumer price.

They said wind and solar power is a better way to go.

At a time when household energy bills are rising quickly, the report from the Climate Change Committee is timely. There is uncertainty over gas supplies due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The committee warned that some fossil fuel projects in the North Sea would not deliver gas until the year 2050.

Climate laws state that the UK must be almost completely gas-free by that date.

The committee favors tighter restrictions on drilling in the North Sea.

It won't recommend these actions to ministers because of the finely balanced arguments for and against drilling.

British-produced gas is less damaging to the climate than imports, but it's not certain if other exporters will reduce their own emissions in the future.

A windfall tax could be imposed on the rising profits of oil firms and the cash given back to consumers.

The committee says that the decisions on whether to drill more in the North Sea must be left to the ministers.

The oil and gas industry believes it has a strong case because of its emissions.

Environmentalists are angry that the committee hasn't followed the recommendation of the International Energy Agency and ruled out further fossil fuel exploration.

The UK has a diversified economy and has a large historic emissions, so it should be the ones leading the way on no further oil and gas exploration.

The committee was disappointed with the UK oil and gas industry's ambitions to cut their own operational emissions.

The industry could lower pollution by reducing methane emissions. It warned that the Paris climate agreement would be destroyed by over-supply of hydro-carbons.

The chairman of the committee was emphatic about the need to continue on the path away from burning gas. If the UK followed through with green policies outlined by the prime minister, it would cut bills in the future.

If the former PM had not scrapped schemes to insulate the UK as part of his initiative to cut the green crap, the average home bill would have been less.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) welcomed the report that carbon budgets can still be met if new oil and gas fields are developed in the UK.

There will be ongoing demand for oil and gas as we transition to cleaner and cheaper forms of energy.

The report comes a day after a think tank accused the government of wasting millions of pounds on oil and gas in the North Sea.

Tax relief and subsidies have made the UK one of the most skewed tax environments in the world for oil and gas production.

Fossil fuel companies received tax relief for new exploration in the North Sea between 2016 and 2020 according to the report.

Revenue is expected to fall from the mature basin as remaining resources become harder to extract, according to the report.