An extraordinary collapse in work to tackle the UK’s energy-leaking buildings over the last decade has been revealed, as the crucial Cop27 climate summit continues.
Some 2.3 million measures were installed each year through government-backed schemes when the Conservatives came to power – but that tally plummeted to fewer than 100,000 in 2021.
The figures are revealed in a highly-critical letter from the independent climate watchdog, which calls the government’s record “particularly poor”.
“Heating UK buildings contributed more than a fifth of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2021,” Lord Deben, the chair of the Climate Change Committee has written.
“Building emissions have stagnated over the past decade, in large part due to under-investment in energy efficiency.”
The letter, to the chancellor Jeremy Hunt, will be seen as an attempt to put tackling the climate crisis through better energy efficiency on the agenda for next week’s autumn statement.
“Regrettably, it is too late to introduce new policies to achieve widespread improvements to the fabric of buildings for this winter,” the committee says.
But it adds: “Government can lead by example by investing in the energy efficiency of the public estate, demonstrating national and local government efforts to reduce energy demand.”
The watchdog says it would cost “less than £1,100” to give more than six in ten households “levels of energy efficiency that are compatible with Net Zero”.
more to follow
Kaynak: briturkish.com