Climate policy

The European Commission has not “watered down plans to tackle climate change” (your report, 23 January).

The previous target set for 2020 was for a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below the 1990 level and the new target is for a 40 per cent reduction by 2030.

What has changed is that the commission has woken up to the fact that the current policy of targeting renewable energy as a means of achieving this end was unlikely to succeed in creating a low-carbon economy and was leading to an unstable energy system.

Scrapping renewable targets will help ensure scarce resources are focused on having a meaningful impact on carbon emissions, including reducing energy consumption rather than merely funding the “subsidy junkies” of the renewable energy sector.

Alan J Black

Camus Avenue

Edinburgh