Natural England

Environmentalists, the energy industry, and government must work together to find ways of responding to climate change, said Natural England today (Tuesday 17 June) as it launched new policies to promote sustainable energy and help tackle climate change.

Speaking on the day of an Energy and Environment conference in London, Sir Martin Doughty, Chair of Natural England, said: "The challenge is to work with the energy industry, and government, to find the right places for the right technologies."

Natural England wants the Government to undertake a strategic assessment of the environmental impact of different renewable and clean energy developments in order to better inform long-term decisions by policy makers and investors.

However, Sir Martin warned that: "An ad-hoc, uncoordinated response to climate change could do as much harm as good. In the rush to switch to cleaner and renewable energy options we must make use of our resources in a way that doesn't have a detrimental effect on the environment and the range of services it provides.

"As part of its response to climate change Natural England will help point the development of new wind farms to the right places. We want to ensure that new sites are able to maximise the generation capacity while minimising their effect on the natural environment."

Natural England wants greater support for developers to enable them to make high quality applications which minimise impacts on the environment and maximise the potential for the UK to successfully move to a low carbon economy.

Natural England today also calls for:

• The Government to implement a UK-wide environmental assessment of renewable energy. We need to know what will work long-term to inform decisions made by policymakers and investors.
• Greater government and industry support and incentives for communities to deliver micro and community scale renewables projects, such as domestic wind turbines and greater access to the national grid.
• A national adaptation framework to ensure that our national response to climate change is co-ordinated, based on agreed principles and, critically, effective. We need to avoid making decisions in one area that will adversely affect another.
• A planning system, on land and at sea, which anticipates climate change and delivers adaptation opportunities.
• Better environmental standards applied to bioenergy so consumers can be sure that the biofuels they purchase have a net benefit to the environment.
• Land managers, especially in upland peat areas, should be incentivised to manage their land in a way which delivers environmental benefits such as flood management, nature conservation and carbon management.
• Practical action to demonstrate what responding to climate change looks like across a range of habitats so as a society we learn how to react to the changes which will happen.

Natural England is committed to reducing its own greenhouse gas pollution by 50% by 2010.

Notes for editors

Natural England works for people, places and nature to conserve and enhance biodiversity, landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas. We conserve and enhance the natural environment for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people, and the economic prosperity it brings www.naturalengland.org.uk

For further information contact the Natural England press office on 845 603 9953, press@naturalengland.org.uk, out of hours 07970 098005.