Decarbonising heat in homes inquiry – Tuesday 20th April (10.30am)

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee’s inquiry examining the path to decarbonising heating in homes continues on Tuesday morning (10.30am) with an evidence session examining the costs associated with the decarbonisation of domestic heating.

The session will feature witnesses from the public and private sector, E3G, an independent think-tank, and an academic expert on energy modelling.

The evidence hearing is likely to ask questions about the overall projected costs to decarbonise domestic heating, how these costs could be minimised, and how these costs could be fairly distributed between consumers, taxpayers, business, and the Government.

On Tuesday, the Committee are also likely to look at the effectiveness of previous policies to encourage significant take-up of low carbon heating systems and what incentives and regulatory measures could be employed to boost take-up of low carbon heating technologies.

Evidence session: Decarbonising heat in homes, 10.30am, Tuesday 20^th April

Witnesses:

10.30am

• Naomi Baker, Policy Officer, Energy Saving Trust
• Emma Harvey, Programme Director, Coalition for the Energy Efficiency of Buildings, Green Finance Institute
• Juliet Phillips, Senior Policy Advisor, E3G
• Mark Barrett, Professor of Energy and Environmental Systems Modelling, UCL

Editor’s Notes

Decarbonising heat in homes – inquiry terms of reference

The key issues which this inquiry will examine includes:

1. What has been the impact of past and current policies for low carbon heat, and what lessons can be learnt, including examples from devolved administrations and international comparators?

2. What key policies, priorities and timelines should be included in the Government’s forthcoming ‘Buildings and Heat Strategy’ to ensure that the UK is on track to deliver Net Zero? What are the most urgent decisions and actions that need to be taken over the course of this Parliament (by 2024)?

3. Which technologies are the most viable to deliver the decarbonisation of heating, and what would be the most appropriate mix of technologies across the UK?

4. What are the barriers to scaling up low carbon heating technologies? What is needed to overcome these barriers?

5. How can the costs of decarbonising heat be distributed fairly across consumers, taxpayers, business and government, taking account of the fuel poor and communities affected by the transition? What is the impact of the existing distribution of environmental levies across electricity, gas and fuel bills on drivers for switching to low carbon heating, and should this distribution be reviewed?

6. What incentives and regulatory measures should be employed to encourage and ensure households take up low carbon heat, and how will these need to vary for different household types?

7. What action is required to ensure that households are engaged, informed, supported and protected during the transition to low carbon heat, including measures to minimise disruption in homes and to maintain consumer choice?

8. Where should responsibility lie for the governance, coordination and delivery of low carbon heating? What will these organisations need in order to deliver such responsibilities?

The Committee’s inquiry on decarbonising heat followed a successful pitch by Dr Jan Rosenow, Principal and European Programme Director, Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), at the Committee’s “MyBEIS” evidence hearing in July and is part of the BEIS Committee’s ongoing work on net zero and its follow-up to the findings of the Climate Assembly. Dr Rosenow has been appointed a specialist adviser to the Committee for the inquiry.

Climate Assembly UK

The BEIS Committee was one of six select committees of the House of Commons (joining Environmental Audit; Housing, Communities and Local Government; Science and Technology; Transport; and Treasury) to support the Climate AssemblyUK, a citizens’ assembly on combatting climate change and achieving the pathway to net zero carbon emissions.

The Climate Assembly UK, published its final report in September 2020, setting out a clear, internally consistent and timely path for how the UK can reach its legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050. Climate Assembly UK’s report showed how a representative sample of the population believe the UK should meet its net zero emissions commitment with detailed recommendations across ten areas including: how we travel; what we eat and how we use the land; what we buy; heat and energy use in the home; how we generate our electricity; and greenhouse gas removals.