United Kingdom

The United Kingdom energy system comprises a diverse range of energy sources and consumption. The energy landscape of the UK is presently responding to the decline of domestic reserves and production of oil and natural gas. Combined with increasing instabilities in fossil fuel production, the UK is attempting to transition to a more secure and resilient energy system predicated on expanding nuclear power, shale gas, renewable energy and North Sea gas. The UK’s energy landscape, however, is increasingly dominated by changes in governmental policy. Despite this, in recent years the UK has become a leading proponent to reduce global carbon emissions and is viewed as an international leader in addressing climate change. Climate change mitigation and energy security are the UK’s core energy and climate policy goals. A key number of policies introduced such as the UK Climate Change Act 2008 and the Low Carbon Transition Plan 2009 commits the UK to a low-carbon future. The main issues regarding energy in the UK are:

• Economic downturn in 2008 influenced energy and climate policies
• Investment in renewable energy technologies by Government has reduced in 2015 to concentrate on new nuclear and gas power stations
• Overruling local government decisions on blocking shale gas fracking development by central government undermines public views towards (sustainable) energy development for the UK, indicating multi-level governance structures and contentions

The main national policy discourses are various. For instance, public opinions towards nuclear energy generation and renewables is significantly high, with onshore wind farms facing some aspects of NIMBYism. Official government actions consisted in the removal of subsidies for renewable energy in 2015 at odds with the wider objective to create a low-carbon energy future, resulting in impacts affecting the sustainability of the UKs renewable energy sector. In addition, there is substantial opposition to fracking shale gas in the UK, particularly in areas of sites of special scientific interest and national parks.