The government last week set out plans to drastically
improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings,
with businesses set to benefit by saving up to £1
billion a year on their energy bills by 2030. This
includes improving the energy performance of rented
commercial buildings and setting a minimum energy
efficiency standard of Energy Performance Certificate
(EPC) band B by
2030.
The Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF)
will help businesses with high power use, such as
energy-intensive industries, to cut their bills and
carbon emissions through investing in efficiency
measures. It will shrink industrial emissions by around
2 million tonnes between 2028 and 2032 - the equivalent
of taking nearly 200,000 cars off the road every
year. This
consultation seeks views on how the fund will
work.
Business, Energy and Clean Growth Minister said:
The UK is already cutting emissions faster than any
other major economy and we’re the first to legislate
to end our contribution to climate change entirely.
Eliminating emissions from industry is key to
achieving this, but doing so does not have to mean
compromising our business success. That’s why we’re
bolstering our investment in clean growth.
Ensuring energy intensive businesses are equipped
with the latest low-emission technologies will not
only helps our transition to net-zero, but will also
ensure these companies are more agile and competitive
going forward - creating new skilled, well-paid jobs.
In June the UK government became the first major
economy to legislate to end its contribution to climate
change by 2050. Emissions from industry, currently
accounting for around a quarter of all UK emissions,
will need to be cut to nearly zero to achieve this.
Eight industrial sectors (cement, ceramics, chemicals,
food and drink, glass, iron and steel, oil refining,
and pulp and paper) currently emit around 2 thirds of
industrial carbon emissions. Ministers are keen to fund
tried and tested low-carbon industrial processes, as
well as exploring new options that will keep British
industries agile.
Businesses in various sectors are already taking steps
to reduce their energy consumption and carbon
footprint, including:
- Nestle, who are using high temperature heat pumps
for heating and cooling during the chocolate
manufacturing process - cutting energy costs by nearly
£150,000 every year
- manufacturer Ibstock Bricks, who are using
brick-building robots to help make repetitive
manufacturing processes more efficient, halving
emissions output for every brick produced
- manufacturer Saint-Gobain, who are saving £165,000
a year in energy costs by becoming more responsive to
demand, powering down its factories at peak energy
periods
- in the ceramics sector, whose energy accounts for a
third of its production costs, heat reduction
programmes have reduced the heat used to glaze
tableware by 5%, helping cut their carbon footprint by
25%
Notes to editors
- the Fund is worth £315 million over the period to
2023/24. The first phase of the Fund will be launched
in spring 2020 and open for applications in summer
2020, with the second phase following in 2021
- the IETF will
provide funding for capital investment in energy
efficiency and deep decarbonisation projects. The first
phase will provide around £30 million of funding with
the rest to follow in the second phase.
