History holds key to future energy policy, says report

History holds key to future energy policy, says report. Policymakers should look to history to learn how best to tackle the challenges of a low carbon economy, says a new report co-authored by University of Sussex energy analyst Professor Jim Watson. The report, UK Energy Policy 1980 - 2010: A history and lessons to be learnt, published today (Weds 25 January 2012), considers whether current policies are far-reaching enough for the UK to meet its carbon budgets and build a low carbon economy. The report, commissioned by the Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies (PGES) and written by leading energy analysts Professor Watson (Director of the Sussex Energy Group at the University of Sussex and Professor Peter Pearson (Director of the Low Carbon Research Institute of Wales, Cardiff University), looks at how past lessons can inform current and future policy. The report emphasises the need for concerted effort involving government and the public in the drive to an 80 per cent cut in carbon emissions in the UK by 2050. Starting with the privatisation of the energy market in the 1980s, the authors note how energy issues were increasingly left to market forces and the role of energy in Whitehall and Parliament diminished as it became a small part of one government department. Now, energy policy has come full circle with energy once again centre stage as the UK grapples with climate change, energy security, affordability, fuel poverty and numerous new technological and societal developments.