UK Energy in a Global Context - Synthesis Report

This report covers issues that are of current or future foreseeable importance, with a particular emphasis on those that have a strong global dimension.

The report starts with a very brief summary of the global context for energy (section 1), before briefly linking together the major issues affecting UK energy choices (section 2), and exploring through futures scenarios how these choices might play out in the years to 2050 (section 3). Section 4 then covers the major issues in more detail: the potential drivers of UK energy demand; how key components of the UK’s energy supply could evolve (with a focus on natural gas security and the role of innovation in low-carbon technologies); how public attitudes and values could shape the future direction of the UK energy system; how energy markets in the UK could evolve, in the context of developments within the EU; and what the impacts of energy system change might be on energy costs and bills, and on national and global ecosystem services.