In a monumental moment for the UK renewable energy financial market, the seventh Carbon Budget has been officially confirmed; as the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) speaks out in support of ‘moving at pace’ to tackle fossil fuel price ‘shocks’ whilst maximising the benefits of clean energy and adhering to the Paris Agreement.
This seventh Carbon Budget – covering 2038-42 – is the most ambitious to-date, having been set at an 87% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to 1990 levels.
Previous carbon budgets were set as milestones toward the UK’s long-term climate targets where, historically, these budgets were established on a pathway toward an 80% reduction by 2050, before the target was amended to Net Zero (100%) by 2050 in 2019.
And, with this ambitious target – set at 25% spanning 2008-12, up to 78% spanning 2033-37 – comes with the release of a report by Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) from CBI Economics, showing that the UK has approximately £455 billion of energy infrastructure in development across 262GW of capacity, spanning offshore wind, solar, hydrogen and energy storage.
What’s more, CBI Economics’ report finds that the Net Zero economy supports over 1.1 million jobs here in the UK and has generated £105 billion.
These are undoubtedly impressive numbers all round for renewable and clean energy production, economics and therefore public perception, and serve to show – not only the UK government’s long term commitment to a truly zero carbon future – but also to the incredible, long term value of clean and renewable energy to the end customer; eventually serving to increase our nation’s energy security and ultimately reduce household bills whilst reducing greenhouse gases.
So, in all this great news – that directly references the impact of offshore wind, solar, hydrogen and even emerging energy storage – where does anaerobic digestion, Energy from Waste and nuclear energy sit?
The UK’s Three Essential Energy Pillars Are Missing
Omitted from many articles surrounding the seventh Carbon Budget, AD, EfW and nuclear energy all form core parts of the UK’s Net Zero strategy, where the government explicitly cites nuclear as a core component of “clean firm” or “dispatchable” power, and AD and EfW sit within the natural resources, waste and F-gases section of the UK’s decarbonisation strategy.
Present but seemingly forgotten or ‘hidden’ from view, why are they missing from the conversation?
Presumably, this is because these three essential energy pillars simply aren’t as ‘sexy’ as solar and wind power, where solar panels and wind farms really do lead the clean and renewable energy conversation here in the UK, and have done for a number of years.
Not to mention the fact that – when it comes to compelling headlines and their accompanying articles – explaining and academically breaking down the intricacies of a wind farm or solar farm is much easier than breaking down the complex industrial processes of an EfW plant.
But perhaps the issue is a little more deep-rooted than that.
We know that public perception tends to lead government policies and initiatives, and – particularly in the shadow of ETS-UK and EU, and the lockdown on incinerators, public perception of waste management solutions such as EfW plants and AD plants hasn’t been positive for some time; with many believing that EfW plants are expensive, smelly, unsightly and – above all – bad for the environment.
Couple this with a ‘Not In My Back Yard’ mentality, and EfWs really do get a bad rap; the misunderstanding surrounding these plants – including anaerobic digestion plants – is rife.
And that’s not to mention nuclear which is widely and commonly seen across the globe as unsafe, unmanageable and incompatible with renewables.
However, public perception and reality are truly at odds here, and the UK media would do well to bridge the gap, shining a light on the critical role EfW, AD and nuclear play in keeping Britain’s energy generation clean.
Nuclear Energy as a Baseload
Nuclear energy is not the “incompatible” technology critics suggest; it is the essential partner to renewables and, currently, nuclear actually provides roughly 15–20% of the UK’s electricity, acting as the critical baseload that keeps the grid stable when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
Far from being “unmanageable,” the UK’s nuclear sector operates under some of the world’s strictest regulatory frameworks. Furthermore, modern innovation – such as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) – promises to make nuclear deployment faster, more flexible, and even more efficient, positioning it as a cornerstone for the grid of 2040 and beyond.
Energy from Waste and Circular Efficiency
As of 2024, the amount of residual waste in England treated through incineration – which includes Energy from Waste facilities – has increased to 18.9 million tonnes which represents a 16.9% increase since 2019.
And, in reality, EfW’s being ‘smelly and unsightly’ is certainly an outdated view. In fact, EfWs are actually required to meet stringent Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) standards, ensuring that emissions are tightly controlled and filtered, as well as steering huge amounts of waste away from methane-emitting landfill and towards a meaningful production pipeline: recycling otherwise unusable waste into much needed heat and power for our homes and businesses.
Anaerobic Digestion as an Essential Provider
Anaerobic Digestion is perhaps the most misunderstood of the trio. It is the bridge between our agricultural sector and our energy independence.
By capturing gas that would naturally leak from decomposing organic waste, AD produces biomethane; a clean, storable, and transportable fuel that can be injected directly into the gas grid or used for “hard-to-decarbonise” sectors like heavy transport and industrial heat.
It is a decentralised, localised solution that reduces reliance on imported gas, directly tackling the “price shocks” the government is so keen to avoid.
With this, it’s also important to note that the UK currently produces approximately 7 TWh of biomethane annually, which is sufficient to heat roughly two-thirds of a million homes and, by 2050, full deployment of biomethane capacity could reach over 120 TWh annually. This could potentially meet between 20% and 50% of the UK’s long-term gas demand, providing a critical source of dispatchable heat and enhancing national energy security.
In fact, without at least 64 TWh of biomethane, projections suggest the UK will struggle to meet its carbon budgets and Net Zero commitments.
This, alongside the otherwise previously laboured and incredibly pertinent point that AD plants are almost transformative for local farmers and their farms; providing a wealth of benefits to UK agriculture such as additional income, odour & waste management, and energy self-sufficiency.
Transformative Potential
By adding these sectors to the discourse, the UK’s Net Zero strategy moves from a purely “clean production” model to a resilient infrastructure model:
Grid Stability: Nuclear acts as the necessary firm power to complement the volatility of wind and solar.
Decentralised Security: AD transforms waste management into a localized energy source, reducing reliance on imported gas and shielding the UK from the “price shocks” mentioned by DESNZ.
Circular Efficiency: EfW shifts the narrative of waste from an environmental liability to a productive pipeline, converting otherwise unusable material into essential heat and power.
Bridging the Perception Gap
The current focus on wind and solar, while valid for their scale, overlooks the technical necessity of dispatchable power and circular resources.
Without the inclusion of AD – specifically the 64 TWh of biomethane required to meet carbon budgets – and the consistent baseload provided by nuclear, the pathway to an 87% reduction by 2038-42 becomes significantly more complex.
Shifting the narrative to include these three pillars not only aligns public perception with the operational reality of the grid but also transforms the national energy debate from a singular focus on generation to a sophisticated commitment to total system security.
#AnaerobicDigestion #NetZero #Emissions
