Financial incentives 'necessary to cut CO2 output and improve air quality'

The UK government needs to offer people and businesses financial incentives if it is to successfully hit its carbon dioxide reduction target by 2020 and improve the air quality in Britain, it has been asserted.

Grace Bennett, policy and communications manager at the Micropower Council, commented that micro-generation using renewable sources is key to reducing the UK's CO2 emissions.

She explained that the financial benefits offered by the feed-in tariff for those generating their own power are vital because it is "a now or never situation".

There are a number of other advantages to shifting towards micro-generation, such as reducing energy bills and creating new jobs in the green sector, she noted.

"We hope that clean energy cashback will help make this a reality and create a real mass market for micro-generation," Ms Bennett added.

A survey carried out earlier this month on behalf of Friends of the Earth, the Cooperative Group and the Renewable Energy Association revealed that two thirds of Brits do not feel that the government's plans on small-scale renewable energy generation are ambitious enough.

Posted by Lauren Steadman