Saturday 12 October 2019
Businesses and charities call for £1bn energy efficiency push
Businesses and charities have called for an additional public capital investment of £1 billion a year for the next 15 years.
The ‘Energy Efficiency First’ declaration claims this step up in financing is vital if the UK's net-zero emission and fuel poverty targets are to be reached.
Led by the Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group (EEIG), the declaration calls on all political parties to prioritise investments in home energy efficiency and predicts there is potential to slash domestic energy demand by at least a quarter, saving the average household around £270 every year.
Signatories including E.ON, Energy UK and CBI stress energy efficiency is the most cost-effective way to decarbonise the economy and would deliver a net benefit of more than £50 billion to households, businesses and the government.
The EEIG notes installation rate of home insulation measures are down by 95% since 2012 and says the number of homes being upgraded to become more efficient each year needs to rise from 170,000 to 1.2 million.
Alasdair MacEwen, Spokesperson for the Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group, said: "Achieving net-zero emissions cost-effectively is simply impossible without a huge cut in energy demand.
"Whether any political party is prepared to do this is the litmus test of whether it is serious about achieving net-zero emissions. It can only be achieved if we treat the decarbonisation of homes as the UK’s number one infrastructure priority."
