UK wants renewable energy target scrapped: Document reveals move to rebrand nuclear power: Fears tha

The UK government wants nuclear power to be given parity with renewables in Europe, in a move that would significantly boost atomic energy in Britain but downgrade investment in renewable generation, according to a leaked document seen by the Guardian.

The move would in effect remove the most important prop from the beleaguered renewable energy sector - the Europe-wide targets stipulating that a proportion of each member state's energy must come from renewable sources.

That target should be scrapped when its current phase - requiring member states to generate 20% of energy from renewables - runs out in 2020, according to a secret submission to the European commission.

"The UK envisages multiple low-carbon technologies: renewables, nuclear and carbon capture and storage, all competing freely against each other in the years to come . . . For this reason, we cannot support a 2030 renewables target," it reads.

But the document calls for "some type of target for 2030", which a government adviser told the Guardian is likely to be a target for low-carbon energy. This would include nuclear alongside renewables and capturing and storing carbon dioxide.

The issue of giving nuclear parity with renewables is likely to be controversial for the energy secretary, Ed Davey, as the Liberal Democrat party's official position is "no to nuclear".

Industry experts and green groups said that nuclear power and the fledgling renewables industry would not compete on a level playing field, because nuclear technology has benefited from more than six decades of public subsidy, while renewable power has had its support slashed.

The UK's renewable energy sector has already suffered a series of blows, with an anti-renewables backlash whipped up by right-leaning thinktanks and Tory MPs, more than 100 of whom sent a letter to the prime minister attacking renewables and calling on him to cut subsidies from onshore wind farms.

Removing the targets could spell disaster in particular for new forms of renewables such as wave and tidal power, which had been tipped as areas in which the UK could lead the world.

Ruth Davis, of Greenpeace, warned that the government's stance would threaten jobs. "Many companies have already put their investments in UK renewables projects on hold, as they lose confidence in the government's domestic energy policies," she said.

Davis added that the moves to boost nuclear power would backfire, and be a gift to the gas industry. "Including carbon capture and storage and nuclear power in the target would enable the big six energy companies to retain their current stranglehold on our power sector, building whatever kind of power generation most suits their business models."

From The Guardian