The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey, is set to deliver a scathing attack on climate sceptics at a Met Office event this afternoon.

The speech comes as the Energy Bill has its third reading in the House of Commons today and tomorrow (3 and 4 June), and Members of Parliament vote on whether to include a target to see the UK’s electricity market ‘decarbonised’, that is, for almost all electricity to be generated from renewable, low-carbon sources such as nuclear and wind by 2030.

The amendment has proved popular with businesses and environmentalists alike, with those in favour arguing that setting a target sooner than 2016 (as originally set out in the Energy Bill) will provide the certainty low-carbon investors need to stimulate economic investment in renewing the UK’s energy infrastructure.

Indeed, with a fifth of the UK’s electricity generating capacity due to close this decade, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) hopes to bring forward £110 billion investment in new infrastructure to ‘keep the lights on and continue the shift to a diverse, low-carbon economy as cheaply as possible’.

However, Davey has shown little support for bringing the decarbonisation target forward, saying yesterday (2 June) that the government will be “legislating to set a decarbonisation target range for the power sector in 2016, something no political party had in their manifesto, but an issue that this Coalition government has addressed head on”.

This has been backed by Conservative MP Charles Hendry, who has argued that though he is an “enthusiastic supporter of a low-carbon economy”, now is not the time to be setting targets for 2030.

Legislating for decarbonisation now ‘cannot be a responsible decision for government to make’

Writing on the Conservative website, Hendry said: ‘The challenge with a decarbonisation target set now for 2030 is that we cannot yet know how it can be met – or indeed, if it can be met.

‘Nuclear may not happen on the scale hoped for – and it is hard to see how we can meet a decarbonisation target without new nuclear. Some of the emerging renewable technologies, such as offshore wind and tidal, may remain too expensive, and we don't yet know if their costs will come down to make them affordable for consumers.’

Hendry went on to say that carbon capture and storage has yet to be ‘proven commercially’ and that using ‘relatively plentiful’ unabated gas, will ‘not enable us to reach the low level of emissions which the 2030 target would be likely to require’.

‘My difficulty with the target, therefore, is that we would be requiring it to be set without knowing that it can be met, and that cannot be a responsible decision for government to make, when the costs of getting it wrong would have to be picked up by consumers for decades to come.’

‘Last chance saloon’ to stop a dash for gas

Hendry’s claims are refuted by environmental groups, several of which have produced reports outlining how Britain can successfully decarbonise its energy sector using existing technology. Friends of the Earth (FoE), for instance, issued ‘A plan for Clean British Energy’ in advance of the unveiling of the Energy Bill.

The report claims to show ‘that decarbonising electricity by 2030 is not only necessary to deliver on the UK’s climate commitments, but is the most cost-effective way to provide a secure and affordable electricity supply while seizing the opportunity to build on the green growth of recent years.’

The Centre for Alternative Technology, likewise, has launched ‘Zero Carbon Britain 2030’, which it describes as ‘a positive, realistic policy framework to eliminate emissions from fossil fuels within 20 years’.

Key to both these plans is a legally-binding decarbonisation target, and today’s vote has been billed by FoE as a ‘last chance saloon’ to stop ‘George Osborne’s dash for gas’. Andy Atkin’s, FoE’s Executive Director, said: “This is the last chance saloon for the Liberal Democrats to swing the vote and block Osborne's dash for gas.

"MPs of all parties must back a target to make Britain a world leader in clean power. The Energy Bill is simply not fit for purpose unless it does what investors say is needed and commit the UK to clean British energy – thousands of jobs as well as our climate are at stake.

"The Chancellor's vanity project of up to 40 new gas fire stations must be stopped – households can't afford hikes in energy bills from volatile global gas prices.”

Climate change denial is “dogmatic, politicial bloody-mindedness”

Davey has conceded that continuing to “burn all the dirty fuel we want without a care” is “absolutely wrong and really quite dangerous” and that those who argue against man-made climate change are “destructive”.

Speaking at the launch of the Met Office’s Climate Service UK – a new initiative that aims to provide users with ‘vital information to help them manage exposure to climate variability and change’ – Davey is expected to say: “The world’s climate system is one of the most complex and chaotic natural systems… But some sections of the press are giving an uncritical campaigning platform to individuals and lobby groups who reject outright the fact that climate change is a result of human activity. Some even deny the reality of climate change itself.

“This is not the serious science of challenging, checking and probing. This is destructive and loudly clamouring scepticism born of vested interest, nimbyism, publicity-seeking contraversialism or sheer blinkered, dogmatic, political bloody-mindedness.

“This tendency will seize upon the normal expression of scientific uncertainty and portray it as proof that all climate change policy is all hopelessly misguided – from pursuing renewable energy to emissions targets themselves.

“By selectively misreading the evidence, they seek to suggest that climate change has stopped so we can all relax and burn all the dirty fuel we want without a care.

“This is a superficially seductive message, but it is absolutely wrong and really quite dangerous.”

The Met Office’s Climate Service UK will work in partnership with users to understand vulnerability to weather and climate and support ‘climate-smart’ decisions to ‘assess how a changing climate might affect business and society’ and ‘make society more resilient’.

Speaking of the new service, Julia Slingo, Met Office Chief Scientist, said: “The volatile weather of 2012 illustrates society’s increasing vulnerability and exposure to climate-related hazards. Together with our global network of partners across government, academia and business, we are well placed to rise to the challenge of delivering Climate Service UK that addresses the needs of societies everywhere.”

Read more about the Energy Bill and the Met Office’s Climate Service UK.