UKGBC responds to the Government’s announcements on its ‘Energy Security Day’, saying energy security requires government to end vast energy waste from homes and buildings.
Julie Hirigoyen, Chief Executive at UKGBC said: “The Government has today doubled down on new clean energy generation, a positive stimulus at this febrile moment for energy security. But it has missed an opportunity by failing to publish a comprehensive national plan to curb the staggering levels of energy waste from our homes and buildings. Without this, we’re trapped into unsustainable demand for heat and electricity, making it extraordinarily difficult to see how we’ll pay our bills or hit our climate goals.
“Initiatives such as the ECO+ scheme and extension to heat pump support, while welcome, will only reach a fraction of the 27 million homes that need retrofitting. Similarly, reforms to the planning system do not include the net zero test recommended by Chris Skidmore MP.
“As our climate emergency intensifies, the Government should be leading from the front by seizing the opportunities of a nationwide retrofit plan that would deliver £56bn to the UK’s green economy, slash energy bills to save households £8bn every year and create 500,000 skilled jobs in a decade.
“We hope that the Government makes use of the opportunities to get on track offered by the Energy Efficiency Taskforce and amendments to the planning system through the Levelling Up Bill.”
Header image ©Razvan/AdobeStock
Earlier this year the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) published a new toolkit to enable the construction industry to accelerate the shift from a linear to a regenerative, circular economy. More details on that here.
