Publications
All Policy Exchange publications are free to download in .pdf format. You can also purchase hard copies of the majority of our reports – check each individual report page for details.
Environment & Energy Publications
Untapped Potential: Better protecting rivers at lower cost
Untapped Potential identifies reforms to regulatory arrangements for abstraction and water supply, to better protect rivers and natural environments at lower costs.
Climate Change Policy – Time for Plan B
Climate Change Policy – Time for Plan B proposes high level changes in UK and EU policy, with the aim of developing a “Plan B” Climate Policy that would better reflect the new and potentially dangerous circumstances we find ourselves in.
2020 Hindsight: Does the renewable energy target help the UK decarbonise?
2020 Hindsight examines 16 different plans for achieving the UK target of an 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2050. None of the models showed that the UK’s commitment to producing 35% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 was needed to reach its carbon target.
Re-Monopolising Power: Ten principles for electricity market reform
Britain’s electricity market is being hamstrung by too much regulation and uncertainty, according to a new study from Policy Exchange.
Carbon Omissions: Consumption-based accounting for international carbon emissions
Carbon Omissions reveals that Britain is actually consuming almost a third more CO2 than it was in 1990. The difference is that much of the carbon consumed in the UK and EU is “embedded” in products imported from countries such as China rather than produced in the UK.
Green Bills: An analysis of the projected levy in energy bills
Green Bills reveals how the total levy in energy – effectively tax to pay for climate and renewable energy policies – is set to soar by 2020. Figures reveal that by 2020, the cost of policies like the Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariffs – which pay householders to produce power uneconomically through technologies like solar – will hit over £16 billion a year.
Greener, Cheaper
The report suggests that a carbon tax would be a more cost-effective way of ensuring that Britain goes greener more quickly and more efficiently with a simpler, better targeted policy which is credible over the long term.
Cold Comfort – Fuel Poverty and the Winter Fuel Payment
This report calls for a more honest approach from government. We argue that if the government wishes to use the Winter Fuel Payment funding to boost the incomes of older people, it should do so transparently through the pensions or benefits system. If, on the other hand, it is serious about helping people who struggle to heat their homes, the government should focus on improving domestic energy efficiency and effective approaches to tackling poverty.
Negotiating the Next Climate Change Treaty
This report not only sets out an alternative approach for the next climate change treaty; it also develops the reasoning behind it. While the result will be imperfect and is not, by design, as cost-effective as a Kyoto-style approach would have been if it had worked, the approach outlined has a much greater chance of actually delivering significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, as the case of HFCs demonstrates, it already has.
At a Rate of Knots: Improving public transport on the River Thames
At a Rate of Knots argues that we can make much more of the river Thames for very little cost, producing a new, integrated and expanded service which will offer a great new option for many of London’s commuters. The river is a core part of London’s identity yet it is cut off from its transport network. This report sets out how to correct this.
