UK energy industry urges ministers to stick with net zero plan
Energy companies want the government to implement policies to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the industry’s leader has said, despite claims from some on the political right that high energy prices should spark a rethink.
Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive of Energy UK, which represents the industry, said: “The government should press on with net zero policies. That’s something they still need to do. We are missing the carbon budgets.”
She called on ministers to “tighten energy efficiency”, by insulating more homes, and changing planning and construction rules, while developing a strategy for decarbonising the UK’s fleet of gas-fired power stations.
She rejected claims that renewable energy had increased costs, saying the problem was clearly an over-reliance on gas, especially for heating. She told a meeting hosted by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit: “The UK is exposed to gas because we have a huge amount of gas burned in our homes, and so helping people get off gas boilers on to other forms of heating technology is critical over the next decades to reduce our reliance on places like Russia.”
She added: “But [it’s also necessary] to make our building stock much more energy-efficient. The reason we have high rates of fuel poverty in the UK isn’t just about the commodity we burn, it’s the volume of it we burn because our energy efficiency rates here are much lower than other countries.”
Households are facing an energy price cap rise this April, likely to amount to £2,000 for the average bill, and possibly a further rise to £2,400 in October. The cost-of-living crisis has embroiled the government in calls from its own backbenches to scale back or abandon measures to promote renewable energy and pay for home
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