The Committee on Climate Change's (CCC's) UK Housing: Fit for the future? report released this week warns that the UK’s legally-binding climate change targets will not be met without the near-complete elimination of greenhouse gas emissions from UK buildings. The report finds that emissions reductions from the UK’s 29 million homes have stalled, while energy use in homes – which accounts for 14% of total UK emissions – increased between 2016 and 2017.The report makes a number of recommendations and action for Government, including making use of low carbon sources of heating such as heat pumps and heat networks, and new and retrofit energy efficiency measures in all homes.The report follows think tank Bright Blue's call on Government last week to establish a new heat network regulatory unit in Ofgem. Bright Blue also recommends the decarbonisation of UK gas to be a priority for Ofgem in the next price control framework from April 2021, including by increasing the available funding through the Network Innovation Competition and Network Innovation Allowance.Read the ADE's response to the CCC's report here. ADE members can also download the Member Briefing.
