Rudd's Renewable Cuts Send 'Perverse Signal' Ahead of Paris Climate Conference Says UN Scientist

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Top UN environment scientist Jacqueline McGlade has criticised cuts in support for renewable energy pushed by Energy and Climate Secretary Amber Rudd and her department as sending a โ€œperverse signalโ€ ahead of the Paris climate change conference inย December.

McGlade, a former head of the European Environment Agency, is the most prominent international expert to join the mounting criticism of the UKโ€™s solar and wind subsidyย cuts.

Speaking to Roger Harrabin of the BBC this week ahead of the preparatory climate meeting currently taking place in Bonn, McGlade said: โ€œWhat Iโ€™m seeing worldwide is a move very much towards investment in renewable energy. To counterbalance that, you see the withdrawal of subsidies and tax breaks for fossilย fuels.โ€

She continued: โ€œWhatโ€™s disappointing is when we see countries such as the United Kingdom that have really been in the lead in terms of getting their renewable energy up and going โ€“ we see subsidies being withdrawn and the fossil fuel industry beingย enhanced.โ€

Cuts in renewable subsidies, coupled with tax breaks for oil and gas, sends the wrong message in the lead up to the Paris climate conference, McGlade said; just as the world is rushing towards clean energy the UK appears to be runningย away.

โ€œItโ€™s a very serious signal,โ€ she said, โ€œa very perverse signal that we do not want toย create.โ€

You can read the full interviewย here.

Photo: International Council for Science viaย Flickr

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Kyla is a freelance writer and editor with work appearing in the New York Times, National Geographic, HuffPost, Mother Jones, and Outside. She is also a member of the Society for Environmental Journalists.

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