UK reaching net zero ‘impossible without serious action to cut energy use’

A new report: Balancing the energy equation: three steps to cutting UK demand by the Green Alliance says that the government’s narrow approach to climate change, focused on expanding renewables and phasing out coal, will cut not nearly enough carbon to meet the UK’s net zero goal. Sectors like transport, buildings and industry are way behind on having effective carbon cutting strategies. Together, they are only on course to deliver about 10% of the emissions savings they need to over the next 12 years. 

Reducing energy demand must be central to UK energy policy to cut carbon at the scale necessary, says the Green Alliance, which adds that, far from being a ‘hair shirt’ approach, reducing demand will benefit people and businesses financially, improve public health, and boost the economy. 

Transport has the highest carbon emissions of any sector, but policy is only guaranteed to deliver about 9% of the reduction needed by 2032. Policy that prioritises active travel, such as walking and cycling, and public transport and shared mobility would, says the report, reduce energy demand and also save the NHS £2.5bn a year – nearly 2% of its budget – by reducing the cost of tackling health problems caused by inactive lifestyles. 

Meanwhile, energy efficiency policies for buildings have stalled in the UK and policy has often ignored improvements needed to existing buildings. Along with new incentives for those who are able to pay for improvements, an additional £1bn per year to 2035 could upgrade homes occupied by low income households, says the report. This could also help to prevent the estimated 10,000 early deaths caused by cold homes each year. 

And industry policies largely ignore the potential of greater resource efficiency to cut energy use and therefore carbon emissions, says the Green Alliance. Resource efficiency could lead to carbon savings three to four times greater than those envisaged for energy efficiency by 2050. 

Based on research by the Centre for Research in Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), a collaboration of academics across 15 UK universities, the study concludes that government departments should work on three fronts to address energy demand – avoid unnecessary energy use; improve technical energy efficiency; and flex energy demand by aligning demand better with supply. 

Professor Nick Eyre, CREDS Director, said: ‘Going to the effort of decarbonising all of the energy we currently use is not a sensible strategy to bring about a sustainable energy system unless we also take steps to cut demand. This needs to be a dominant part of energy system change.’ 

Libby Peake, Head of Resource Policy at Green Alliance, put it a different way: ‘The government’s approach to energy is self-defeating. It ignores half of the equation and denies people considerable benefits. Not only would reducing demand help to reach carbon reduction targets earlier, it would also reduce infrastructure costs and benefit everyone – through cleaner air, more comfortable homes and healthier lives.’ 

Meanwhile, the government needs to support individual families in reaching net zero in the way they use energy at home, says the ADE in a new report: Laying the foundations for net zero: Putting households at the heart of the energy transition. 

The ADE has studied the energy system from the perspective of the householder; the person or people living in the house that switch the lights on and off, decide when, where and how much to heat their rooms, and bring their personal behaviour to bear on the property. Its report suggests that: