Heated debate – Government policy is insufficient if we want to hit our emission reduction targets
Reducing emissions associated with heating will not be easy – but it is absolutely necessary, write James Heappey MP, Alan Whitehead MP and Callum McCaig MP, co-chairs of the Future Gas Series research project for Carbon Connect which is administered by Policy Connect, a cross-party, non-profit think tank.
The UK has a statutory target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% against 1990 levels by 2050. The Committee on Climate Change, the body charged with overseeing progress in this endeavour, has stated that emissions have fallen by 38% so we are almost halfway there.
However, the second half of emissions reductions will be much more difficult, expensive and complicated to achieve than the first as there are far fewer of those ‘low hanging carbon-reduction fruits’.
Additionally, progress so far has been concentrated on reductions in emissions associated with electricity and meeting the 2050 80% reduction target will require large-scale decarbonisation across all sectors of the economy including heat, transport, industry and agriculture. Overall, the committee is clear that the current policy framework in place is insufficient to meet our legal requirement on emissions reductions.
One of the areas which is most in need of policy development and political action is heat. Space heating and hot water for UK buildings make up around 40% of the UK’s energy consumption and 20% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of this is currently supplied by natural gas so shifting away from this is one of the central challenges for the UK’s climate change efforts. There is a broad consensus that during this Parliament and the next we need to considerably increase our efforts in this area.
When she was energy secretary Amber Rudd stated that heat would be a priority for the old Department of Energy and Climate Change – and so it should be for the new Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Tackling this issue will not be easy – but it is absolutely necessary.
In terms of reducing emissions associated with heating, we have a number of options which include increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, electrified heat sources, district heating systems, low carbon forms of gas (such as biomethane and hydrogen) and solar or geothermal technologies. There is an open debate over what the best option will be for heat. However, there is general agreement that we need to increase energy efficiency, that there is no silver bullet for the low carbon supply of heating and that a mix of all of the above solutions will play their part. The government’s current heating strategy sets out a plan for around 80% of heat to be provided by electrified sources but the feasibility of this level of electrified heat has been questioned by experts. Simultaneously a growing body of evidence has begun to demonstrate the potential for low carbon forms of gas to provide heat while reducing emissions.
Further work is needed to determine the best plan for how we heat our buildings in the future with a number of issues still open to debate; for example whether we will still be using the gas grid (the system which currently transports our gas) in 2050 and if so, how? The government should focus setting a clear strategy for heat during this, and the next Parliament, to be delivered thereafter. In the meantime there are also some things we can pursue immediately – the most obvious of which is dramatically increasing the energy efficiency of our housing stock and piloting the new supply options through a range of demonstrators.
Although heat policy will be a significant challenge it also offers great opportunities. If we rolled out hydrogen to provide our heat on a wide scale it could facilitate a new revitalised role for the gas industry and lead to the development of a ‘hydrogen economy’ in the UK. Putting biomethane (gas produced from organic material) into the gas grid could turn our food waste into a valuable resource. Expanding the energy efficiency, district heating and electric heating industries could also form part of an exciting sustainable industrial strategy.
James Heappey MP, Dr Alan Whitehead MP and Callum McCaig MP are co-chairing the Future Gas Series research project for Carbon Connect
This article first appeared in the House Magazine
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