Homes account for just under 30% of energy use and around 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. The Committee on Climate Change has stressed that widespread deployment of energy efficiency measures across the UK’s building stock will be crucial to any credible and cost-effective strategy to meeting net zero target.
Objectives of the consultation
The Environmental Audit Committee invited written submissions of no more than 3000 words on the following questions:
- Are the Government’s targets on residential energy efficiency still appropriate to achieve its ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2050?
- How effective is the EPC rating at measuring energy efficiency? Are there any alternative methodologies that could be used? What are the challenges for rural areas?
- How will lack of progress on residential energy efficiency impact the decarbonisation of heat and the associated costs of this?
- How can the Government frame a Covid-19 stimulus strategy around improved energy efficiency of homes?
- Is the £5 million Green Home Finance Innovation Fund enough to stimulate the market for and drive action from the banks to encourage owner occupiers to improve the energy efficiency of their homes?
- What additional policy interventions are needed for social housing, leaseholders, landlords and tenants?
- How should the proposed Home Upgrade Grant Scheme be delivered to help the fuel poor? Should the new grant scheme supplement ECO in its current form, or should ECO be redesigned?
- Are there examples of where energy efficiency policy has fallen between Government Departments? How could cross-departmental coordination be improved?
As part of the inquiry, the Committee will follow up on the findings of the former BEIS Committee’s inquiry into energy efficiency and consider whether its recommendations have been implemented.
This call for evidence closed on 13 July 2020.
Supporting papers
To see the call for evidance, follow the link below.
CIBSE response
CIBSE submitted a response to this call for evidence, which is published, amongst other submissions, on the Environmental Audit Committee inquiry page.
In its response CIBSE provided a number of recommendations to help deliver retrofit at scale, at speed, with the intended benefits and without unintended detrimental consequences.
To read the CIBSE response follow the link below: