The Bishop of Salisbury has criticised the government over changes it is proposing to make to renewable energy subsidies. The Right Revd Nicholas Holtam is the Church of England's spokesperson on Climate Change and says some of the government's good work in the area makes, "uncertainty about the Government's domestic commitment to renewable energy puzzling."
Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Bishop Holtam suggests that, "The removal of 87 per cent of the subsidy for solar panels through Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs) undermines a proven method of getting private finance to do what is in the public interest."
Feed-in-Tariffs are a form of subsidy designed to support those who choose to install solar panels in homes or community buildings and then sell some of the energy created back to the grid. Bishop Holtam says at least 400 church buildings across the Church of England alone have taken advantage of the scheme. But it's now being ended.
He says, "If climate change is a moral priority, we must not be content with meeting our mid-range targets for renewable energy. We should be ambitious to exceed them. Our present contentment is destabilising a burgeoning industry."
The COP 21 climate change summit takes place in Paris next month, and is thought to be one of the best chances to limit the warming of the earth. Various Christian NGOs are campaigning for change ahead of the summit, including Christian Aid. A spokesperson said, "The Paris outcome alone won't prevent climate change, it will just get us closer to the agreed goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius. If fully implemented these pledges will get us to 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2100, but we need a mechanism that will drive future action to get that number down to 2 degrees and preferably lower. We're already seeing significant climate effects from 0.85 degrees of warming".
The Bishop of Salisbury claims that this backs up his point about the Feed-in-Tariffs being essential. He says, "Most people are in agreement that climate change is a major moral and spiritual challenge. Yet getting meaningful action to tackle it can prove challenging. St Paul would have recognised the spiritual issue. In his letter to the first Christian community in Rome, he wrote: 'For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.'"
Amber Rudd, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said the changes are needed. She claims, "Our support has already driven down the cost of renewable energy significantly".
She added: "As costs continue to fall it becomes easier for parts of the renewables industry to survive without subsidies, which is why we're taking action to protect consumers, whilst also protecting existing investment."
