Department of Energy and Climate Change

3rd October 2008

It’s rare that an announcement is welcomed (however cautiously) by the CBI, Greenpeace and the National Farmer’s Union at the same time, but the creation of the new Department of Energy and Climate Change has, for now, managed it.

The Guardian reports that the new department will have responsibility for two-thirds of the UK’s carbon emissions.

A Greenpeace blog said:

This is, potentially, fantastic stuff. Until now, one department has been dealing with climate change and another - the department for business (DBERR) - with energy. This entirely nonsensical division hamstrung any chances of a coherent, low carbon energy policy and kept business and environmental interests at perpetual loggerheads. No prizes for guessing who usually won.

Stephen Hale of Green Alliance said:

“Hallelujah. A department of energy and climate change. Not before time. Ed Miliband’s in-tray is piled high with issues that the old structure did not resolve. The new department puts climate change where it belongs, with its own seat at the cabinet table.”

Creating the new department is important, because it recognises that national energy policy and carbon emissions are inextricably linked. So it will be interesting to see how they approach big issues like coal and nuclear. Changing the personnel might provide an opportunity to revisit some of these decisions.