Saturday, December 10, 2011

Energy giants lay out climate resilience plans: Should Cayman do the same?

Defra releases new reports detailing Big Six plans to bolster climate adaptation efforts

Just days after storms swept across the north of Scotland, bringing down power cables and felling two wind turbines, the government will this morning release climate adaptation plans from the UK’s largest energy companies, detailing how they intend to make energy infrastructure more resilient to climatic impacts, including increasingly frequent winter storms.

The reports, which were requested by Defra, confirm that the Big Six energy firms are making “good progress” preparing for rising climate risks such as flooding, heat waves and extreme storms. However, it warns that more investment will be required over the coming years to adapt the UK’s energy infrastructure to cope with inevitable climate change that scientists predict will result in hotter, drier summers and milder, wetter winters.

Speaking on a visit yesterday to an E.ON power station in Enfield, Defra minister Lord Taylor urged utilities to bolster their climate change adaptation plans and take specific steps to improve their resilience. More