Golby, listen up! Campaigners say YES all the time

For Paul Golby, EON CEO, to claim that climate campaigners are saying ‘no’ to all energy proposals (Guardian 4th June), shows he is not listening very hard. For years now, campaigners have been saying ‘yes’ to investment in renewables, ‘yes’ to increased energy efficiency, and ‘yes’ to a secure energy future. In fact, we are only saying ‘no’ when it comes to continuing on an out-dated high carbon energy pathway in the face of catastrophic climate change which is already responsible for thousands of deaths each year.

We are saying ‘yes’ to a renewable energy revolution because it would curb price rises, give Britain energy independence from imported fossil fuels and, as other utilities have wisely pointed out, it would protect us from a future of volatile coal, oil and gas prices. To continue on our high carbon path, depending on an archaic form of energy generation which uses scarce fossil fuels, will mean that blackouts like those just last week (the worst since 1987) will become a regular occurrence.

So yes Mr Golby, we are fully behind the government’s announcement of a scheme to deliver 25 GW of electricity through wind. And yes, we agree with EON that it won’t cover our future energy needs. Which is why we are pushing the government to say yes to this being only the beginning of a massive investment in renewables, and to say no to Kingsnorth coal power station, which will undermine any chance of the renewable revolution taking off.