The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has today published the
Government’s response to its report on ‘Accelerating the
transition from fossil fuels and securing energy supplies’. The
Government has rejected many of EAC’s recommendations aimed at
speeding up the decarbonisation of the UK’s energy supply.
EAC launched the inquiry following Russia’s illegal invasion of
Ukraine and the subsequent choking of international gas supplies,
a move which sent gas and electricity bills for ordinary
consumers spiralling. To ensure that the UK followed a timely
path to meeting its net zero commitment while securing sufficient
energy supplies for homes and businesses, EAC set out a number of
policy recommendations for Ministers. These ranged from measures
to increase energy efficiency in buildings, to ways to facilitate
low-carbon energy installations in homes. The Committee touched
on measures to improve low-emission transport and made clear
recommendations on the phasing out of fossil fuels.
In the Government response, Ministers have not engaged in a
meaningful way with many of the Committee’s recommendations, and
have not acknowledged the slow progress achieved through policy
incentives on energy efficiency in the past 10 years. The
Government instead chose to outline existing policy initiatives
in a number of areas.
Some of the recommendations not taken up by Ministers include:
· Setting an end date for new
licensing of oil and gas;
· Bringing forward a ban on flaring
in the North Sea (also recommended by Chris Skidmore’s Net Zero
Review);
· Allocating a proportion of the
money raised from the Energy Profits Levy to tackle energy
efficiency.;
· Setting a specific ambition for
onshore wind – even though the Government has done this for
offshore wind, solar and nuclear in the British Energy Security
Strategy targets. No detail is offered as to the future role of
onshore wind;
· Introducing tax breaks for
renewables investment as well as oil and gas.
The Committee now looks forward to more significant Government
announcements expected to be made on the so-called ‘Green Day’
later in March. When he appeared before the Committee on
15th March, the Secretary of State for Energy
Security and Net Zero has set high expectations by explaining
that these announcements will be a “big bang moment”, including
publication of a refreshed Net Zero Strategy and the Government’s
response to the report of Chris Skidmore’s Net Zero Review being
published.
The Committee therefore anticipates that the Government will be
in a position to respond more constructively to its
recommendations in the light of these expected imminent policy
announcements, and the Chairman has today written to the
Secretary of State to request that the Government response be
updated in the light of the ‘Green Day’ package.
Environmental Audit Committee Chairman, Rt Hon MP, said:
“Over the course of several months our Committee heard
from expert witnesses on how the UK could phase out fossil fuels
while ensuring that households could continue to power and heat
their homes. Our report took forward many of these proposals,
supported by evidence that the measures were practicable and
achievable.
“It is therefore disappointing to find not only that in
its response to our report the Government failed to accept a
single recommendation, but also that it did not engage at all
with many of the proposals we had made. Instead, we received a
response which reiterated existing policy initiatives. These
initiatives in themselves are clearly insufficient to accelerate
emissions reductions at a pace necessary to put us firmly on the
path to net zero.
“The Government has another chance, later this month, to
demonstrate its ambition by setting out achievable targets and
coherent action plans. I look forward to the Government’s ‘Green
Day’ later in March when the Net Zero Strategy refresh and the
Government response to the Skidmore Review will be published.
This comes at a pertinent time following the IPCC’s recent
warnings that the world is likely to breach the Paris goals of
1.5°C additional warming in the 2030s: we must rapidly identify
ways to reduce consumption of fossil fuels yet further.
“I expect that in the light of these significant
announcements Ministers will wish to update the Government’s
response to our recent report.”
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