Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his Answer of 25 June 2019 to Question 266626 on Climate Change, whether any of those councils have set a target of net zero by (a) 2030 and (b) any other date earlier than 2050.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Department does not maintain a central record of councils that have set a target of net zero by these dates.
The Government welcomes the actions of Local Authorities to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions locally. We have always been clear that to achieve our climate targets it will take significant ambition at all levels.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps (a) he is taking and (b) proposes to take to ensure that energy efficiency in buildings is adequate to ensure that the target of net zero by 2050 is met.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The UK has a good track record in energy efficiency. In the latest International Energy Efficiency Scorecard[1], the UK is ranked 4th in the world and scores very highly on buildings. Since 1990 we have improved the energy efficiency of non-domestic buildings, including public sector buildings, with respective emissions 18 per cent[2] and 40 per cent[3] lower in 2015.
Building energy efficiency policy forms a key part of our Clean Growth Strategy where we have set ambitious targets for non-domestic buildings:
Progress will be kept under review to ensure we achieve net zero by 2050 and consider what further action will be required across sectors to deliver this.
[1] ACEE, ‘The 2018 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard’, 2018 https://aceee.org/research-report/i1801
[2] BEIS (2017) Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics: 1990-2015 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/final-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-national-statistics-1990-2015
[3] Compared to 2015 levels. Sustainable Development Unit (2016) Sustainable Development in Health and Care Report – Health Check 2016 https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/policy-strategy/reporting/sustainable-development-in-health-and-care-report-2016.aspx
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to pages 141 and 142 of the report entitled, Net Zero, published by the Committee on Climate Change in May 2019, what steps he plans to take to (a) extend and (b) strengthen plans to improve energy efficiency in homes.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Homes in the UK represent 15% of carbon emissions and meeting the previous 2050 target would require largely eliminating emissions from our housing stock. With the Government’s new legally binding target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the UK economy by 2050, our current and future actions to encourage home energy efficiency have become all the more crucial.
Through the Energy Company Obligation, we have supported energy efficiency improvements to over 2 million homes since 2013, and in April 2018 introduced regulations setting minimum energy efficiency standards for privately rented homes. We have committed to extend support for energy efficiency out to 2028, driving more than £6 billion of investment in domestic energy efficiency over the next ten years.
In the Clean Growth Strategy we set out our aspiration for as many homes as possible to achieve EPC Band C where cost effective, affordable and practical by 2035. This provides a good basis for net zero, providing a cost-effective level of energy efficiency to provide the basis for decarbonisation of heating systems.
In order to meet this aspiration, we are working to build a vibrant and sustainable market for energy efficiency through introducing a suite of mutually supporting policies and measures that will drive uptake of energy efficiency amongst homeowners. These policies have been informed in part to responses we received to the 2017 Building a Market for Energy Efficiency Call for Evidence and the recently published Green Finance strategy sets out some of our current and future actions in this area.
By 2025 the Government will also introduce a Future Homes Standard for new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating and world leading levels of energy efficiency, to create healthy homes that are fit for the future, have low energy bills, and are better for the environment. We will provide additional details of the planned introduction of the Future Homes Standard within the 2019 consultation on the energy efficiency standards of the Building Regulations.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2019 to Question 266628 on Business: Carbon Emissions, if will he publish the names of the (a) businesses and (b) business organisations that have set targets to achieve net zero by (a) 2030 and (b) a date earlier than 2050.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Department does not maintain a central record of businesses and business organisations that have set targets to achieve net zero. The business community will have an important role to play in meeting our net zero target, and we welcome commitments from businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
We are engaging closely with businesses – including as part of our second ‘Green GB & NI Week’, which will be launched on 4th November. This will be a week of events and activity where government, businesses, academia and civil society will come together to explore how clean growth will change our futures and how we can contribute to action on climate change. This builds on last year’s successful campaign, which saw over 100 events held across the country, and more than 60 businesses making significant pledges worth millions to cut emissions while continuing to grow the green economy.
More information on Green GB & NI week 2019, what happened during Green GB & NI week 2018 and how different groups can get involved, can be found on the website: https://greengb.campaign.gov.uk/
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to promote the installation of heat pumps in domestic properties.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Heat pumps have an important role to play in decarbonising heat in our homes and businesses. The government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK heat pump industry and through the Renewable Heat Incentive we are spending £2.8bn between 2018 and 2021 to support innovative low carbon heat technologies in homes and businesses, including heat pumps.
By 2025 the Government will introduce a Future Homes Standard for new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating and world leading levels of energy efficiency, to create healthy homes that are fit for the future, have low energy bills, and are better for the environment. The Future Homes Standard will be implemented through an uplift to the Building Regulations, subject to consultation. We will expand on the technical detail of these proposals during the 2019 Part L consultation.
BEIS is considering the future policy framework for supporting electrification of heat and we are looking to launch an electrification of heat demonstration project in 2019 to inform further our thinking on the feasibility of a large-scale transition to heat pumps.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to require that the flow temperature of new heating systems in domestic properties is no more than 55 degrees C.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Government has gathered evidence on this point through its 2017 Boiler Plus consultation and continues to engage with heating installers on the development of possible future standards. We intend to consult on regulatory options for heat in buildings and will consider installation standards for low carbon heating as part of that consultation.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2019 to Question 259850 on Waste Heat Recovery, whether Canetis Technologies Ltd have discussed the representations of their own products with the Building Research Establishment.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
BEIS officials understand that the Building Research Establishment has had discussions with Canetis Technologies Ltd. about the representation of its Flue Gas Heat Recovery System products in the Product Characteristics Database.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2019 to Question 262225 on Business: Carbon Emissions, which organisations made those representations; which businesses signed the letter referred to in the Answer; and how many of those (a) organisations and (b) businesses supported net zero (i) by 2030 and (ii) before 2050.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
As noted in my previous answer, a number of organisations have written expressing their support for setting a net zero emissions target. This letter can be accessed here:
http://www.aldersgategroup.org.uk/asset/download/1435/Net%20zero%20business%20letter%20to%20PM.pdf
Our independent advisors - the Committee on Climate Change - make clear in their report that they do not currently consider it credible for the UK to aim to reach net-zero emissions earlier than 2050. We have considered their advice and are legislating in line with it, to end the UK’s contribution to climate change.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2019 to Question 262224, which councils have (a) declared a climate emergency (b) set a target for net zero emissions by 2030; and whether any councils set other dates for net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
A list of councils that have declared a climate emergency can be found here: http://www.caceonline.org/councils-that-have-declared.html
Several of these councils have committed to becoming carbon neutral, with each council responsible for setting its own target date for achieving net zero emissions.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2019 to Question 262226, which (a) organisations from the medical sector and (b) other organisations have contacted his Department; and whether any of those organisations called on the Government to meet the net zero target by (i) 2030 and (ii) by any other date earlier than 2050.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Businesses, the scientific community and civil society have been vocal in encouraging us to set a net zero target.
Our independent advisors - the Committee on Climate Change - make clear in their report that they do not currently consider it credible for the UK to aim to reach net-zero emissions earlier than 2050. We have considered their advice and are legislating in line with it, to end the UK’s contribution to climate change.