Blair delivered a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference on Tuesday, outlining six key areas of reform required to secure the country’s future. He said energy was critically important, especially given the country’s loss of self-sufficiency in gas.

Blair emphasised the importance of “clean energy” over renewable energy. He refused to comment on a commitment to nuclear energy and said no decision would be announced until mid-2006.

“I can today announce that we have established a review of the UK's progress against the medium and long-term Energy White Paper goals,” Blair said.

“The energy minister Malcolm Wicks will be in the lead, with the aim of publishing a policy statement on energy in the early summer of 2006. It will include specifically the issue of whether we facilitate the development of a new generation of nuclear power stations.”

Blair said climate change had become an urgent global issue and he believed there would be a binding international agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in 2010.

“We will meet the Kyoto targets but we have recently seen an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. They are projected to rise further between 2010 and 2020,” Blair said.

By 2020, the decommissioning of existing coal and nuclear plants will have removed around 30% of the UK’s current capacity, while demand was certain to rise, he said.

“Some of this will be replaced by renewables but not all of it can,” Blair warned.

EnvironmentalManagementNews.net