In this guide we explore the ethical and environmental issues of renewable energy, green tariffs, biogas and community energy, and see if there are any ethical energy providers.
Household electricity use accounts for about 5% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions counted territorially, or 3% of our consumption emissions (including imports).
While the UK was previously making reasonable progress at decarbonising electricity, we’ve stalled over the last couple of years. We explore this in more detail below, along with considering what you can do to help put pressure on the government to move quicker on supporting renewable energy production.
The state of the energy market in 2023
It is fair to say that 2022 was a tumultuous year for energy in the UK. 2021 saw natural gas prices spiral due to a confluence of factors, including sudden demand increases throughout Asia, a series of power generation breakdowns in the UK, and the escalating tensions and subsequent war in Ukraine. These translated into the collapse of multiple energy companies including the household giant Bulb.
Dangerous narrative dichotomies emerged in domestic politics, such as the false choice between energy independence and decarbonisation, whilst the Conservatives’ long-standing failure to invest in renewable infrastructure and energy efficiency became increasingly glaring.
Collective calls for energy reform became increasingly vocal throughout 2022, and Don’t Pay UK’s ‘energy strike’ campaign dominated headlines as an impending winter crisis loomed. Liz Truss’s last-minute decision to extend the energy price cap took the wind out of the campaign’s sails, yet we shouldn’t let remedial action from the government distract from the fact that the UK’s energy market is fundamentally broken.
Monetary arguments for a privatised energy system fall apart if the government is willing to protect consumers from rising wholesale energy prices and bail out failing companies. Social arguments for a privatised system fall apart amidst system-wide failures to protect vulnerable people or regulate effectively. Despite all of this, there remains no clear path back to common ownership.