Renewable Energy and Climate Policy under the Conservatives

: Examining Conservative Party explanations for policy change and dismantling, 2010-2020.

Abstract

During a period of sustained rhetorical grandstanding on the UK Government’s progress against climate targets, the delivery mechanisms that underpinned these targets came under fire, causing many renewable energy and climate policies to be dismantled in 2015-2016.
Looking at House of Commons debates, party manifestos and Climate Change Committee Progress Reports over the period 2010-2020, this study provides an assessment of the Conservative Government’s explanations for its decisions to dismantle renewable energy subsidies during 2015-2016. The study also provides an assessment of the government sentiments towards, positions on, and changes in, renewable energy policy during the periods that preceded, and succeeded, the point of dismantling, and the motivations for doing so.
The research identifies the types of dismantling strategy that were chosen by the government, for three renewables subsidies – as they relate to wind power - and identifies the rationale for the approaches taken. The research also reveals the different dimensions of policy dismantling, contained within the government’s chosen strategies, including the government’s later re-introduction of previously dismantled policy.
In identifying the government’s explanations for its policy decisions over the period 2010-2020, the study also highlights marked differences in the government’s attitudes towards onshore wind and offshore wind, as well as its differing approaches to the regulation and facilitation of these two technologies over time.
Finally, the study shows that the government’s rhetoric on delivery against climate targets was not consistently matched by progress on the ground, and that the government’s stated justification for the dismantling of subsidies for onshore wind was not consistent with the government’s own economic evidence - suggesting that the stated (economic) justification for dismantling may not, in fact, have been the primary reason behind the government’s decision to dismantle.

Date of Award	14 Jan 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Sophia Hatzisavvidou (Supervisor) & Iulia Cioroianu (Supervisor)