CREDS response to the Government’s energy security announcement, Thursday 30 March, 2023.
CREDS assessment of the Government’s energy security announcement is that it is a huge missed opportunity to advance sustainable energy in the UK, in particular because it hugely underinvests in energy saving.
Our work shows that past investment in energy saving has contributed more to energy security and emissions reductions than supply side investment. We have also demonstrated that energy use can be further halved by 2050, but that will not be achieved without a major change in policy direction.
The insulation programme that has been announced is welcome, but is only a reannouncement. It still falls far short of what is needed and remains much smaller than the programme this Government inherited in 2010. The Government has ambitious goals for both electric vehicles and heat pumps, but the announcement does not do enough to give either industry or consumers confidence to invest at the rate required. And importantly, there is nothing to promote either sustainable transport or business energy and resource efficiency.
CREDS Director, Professor Nick Eyre said:
The Government has missed an open goal here. The most effective and lowest cost measures to address energy security concerns are investment in renewable energy and energy demand reduction. These are precisely the same measures that the latest IPCC report shows are central to achieving net-zero. Yet the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Secretary of State all fail even to mention the key role of energy saving. Instead, the Government has prioritised support for more costly, environmentally damaging and risky options, such as nuclear power and fossil fuel technology. It is a huge, missed opportunity.
Nick Eyre, Director, CREDS, Review Editor, IPCC Mitigation Report.
Banner photo credit: