Thursday 28 July 2005

The six major carbon-based power companies have been ranked in the new report, The UK's Power Giants: Generating Climate Change. The power sector is the biggest single source of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in this country, accounting for around 37 per cent of the UK's CO₂ emissions.

The report compared the companies' efforts to reduce their CO₂ emissions along with their development of, and investment in, renewable energy programmes and energy efficiency measures. The ranking is as follows:

1. Centrica (which owns British Gas)
2. Scottish & Southern Energy
3. Scottish Power
4. EDF Energy (which owns London Energy, Seeboard Energy, Sweb Energy)
5. Powergen (now owned by E.ON-UK)
6. Innogy (now owned by RWE-npower)

Centrica stood out as the overall leader, not only as a result of its core business being focused on clean gas technology , but also because of its emissions reduction achievements, energy efficiency target compliance, and development of renewable energy assets.

Innogy and Powergen were found to be the biggest polluters of CO₂ in 2003, emitting 27,495,000 tonnes of CO₂ and 30,330,000 tonnes of CO₂ respectively into the atmosphere, together the equivalent to the annual emissions of c.14 million cars.

Andrew Lee, WWF-UK Director of Campaigns, said: "Whilst all the companies are meeting minimum regulatory requirements, it appears the power sector overall is taking a 'tick the box' attitude to the urgent problem climate change poses to people and wildlife."

Overall, the report found that, although some companies are taking innovative actions in some areas, none of them are making the profound changes needed across the whole spectrum of their business.

Scottish Power was found to be leading the field on renewable energy, the company generated c.5 per cent of its electricity from renewables in 2003; and EDF Energy was the clear leader on energy efficiency, having invested £69.5 million in energy efficiency between 1994 and 2003.

WWF recommends the UK government strengthens and extends current legislation, such as the Renewables Obligation and introduces a bill to ensure a 3 per cent year-on-year reduction in CO₂ emissions. Such measures are vital if the government is to meet its domestic goal of reducing CO₂ emissions by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2010.

Matthew Davis, Director of WWF's Stop Climate Chaos campaign, said: "A stronger 2nd phase EU Emissions Trading Scheme is key to reducing emissions from the power sector, but this requires strong leadership from the government - and the power companies. This is a golden opportunity for the UK government and power giants to lead the way internationally on climate change and set the power sector on the path to a low carbon future."