Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a series of delays to government plans to reach Net Zero with the scrapping of further measures on energy efficiency revealed over the course of the week continues to reverberate around the industry.
Criticism of the scaling back continues to mount as the industry comes to terms with seeing a lot of the work it has been doing in preparation for several initiatives and programmes either put on the backburner or come to nothing.
CIC Climate Change Committee Chair Stephen Hodder reacted to the announcements: “In the construction industry we are becoming accustomed to indecision having been hit by delays and policy uncertainty in a number of areas including HS2, UKCA Marking and nutrient neutrality.
“Policy delays and the removal of industry drivers undermine our attempts to plan, train our workforce, invest for the future and develop cost-effective market-based solutions. This is particularly true in the case of our necessarily long-term journey to decarbonise the built environment and was already made clear to government in the industry response to the Skidmore Review. This uncertainty has already delayed valuable investment in climate-friendly solutions which would otherwise be much further down the road.
“On the back of the Prime Minister’s announcements we would also urge government to reflect on the campaigning language used to justify their choices such as depicting the UK’s legal and moral commitments to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as a ‘culture war’ issue and the delay of these plans as an antidote to the cost-of-living crisis.
“This has been framed by an exaggerated notion of what the alternative policy choices are and an effort to downplay the benefits of measures to decarbonise the UK in terms of job creation, wellbeing and ultimately lowering costs for households and businesses.
“We have concerns that this approach will also lead to the critical work needed to improve the UK’s climate resilience, reduce our energy dependency and protect our biodiversity becoming an unnecessarily divisive issue.
“We urge government to work with us and support the construction industry by helping to build trust and confidence in the proposals we are making to reduce emissions and defend the UK against the growing climate emergency.
“Dates are nothing without plans and it is only through a holistic approach to decarbonisation taking into account factors such as planning, fabric first and upskilling that we can meet the challenges ahead.”
The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) says the Prime Minister’s decision to water down energy and environmental policies should come as no surprise as there never was a “proper plan” for delivery.
It welcomed some of the measures included in the announcement and the apparent focus on making the targets more achievable but warned that the government was playing a “dangerous game with business confidence”.
“It has been clear for some time that political will was wavering and that there never was a coherent plan for meeting net zero targets,” said the Association’s chief executive officer David Frise.
“This constant chopping and changing on policy is hugely damaging to business confidence. It makes it much harder to persuade the relevant companies to invest in the necessary technology, processes, and skills,” he added.
“Building engineering contractors are justifiably suspicious of any new ‘initiatives’ announced by government because so many have been dumped in the past. This damages their credibility yet further and many firms could delay making changes, believing the government will shift policy at the last minute whenever something becomes politically difficult.
“The Building Safety Act is a particular concern and any change of tack on that would be disastrous for the future of the industry,” said Frise.
“If we had enacted the Zero Carbon Homes plan as agreed in 2016, we would have been much further down the road by now and the energy crisis would have had less impact.”
BESA hosted an event earlier this year when a former political advisor to Theresa May admitted there had been “absolutely no plan” about how to meet the 2050 target when she announced it as government policy. “And, as she famously said, ‘nothing has changed’,” added Frise.
The Association welcomed the additional funding for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. However, it warned against a proposal that the £7,500 funding towards a heat pump would be available without applicants having to make the necessary energy efficiency upgrades to their homes to ensure the technology performed to its full potential.
It also called for the government to stick by plans to force property landlords to meet energy efficiency upgrade targets.
“Refurbishment and retrofitting of buildings is an essential underpinning part of net zero that will also cut energy bills for the ‘hard pressed families’ the Prime Minister says he wants to support,” said Frise.
“Sunak should also not lose sight of the fact that the push for net zero is good for business as it will create jobs and allow us to export our expertise.”
Frise called for an end to “government by announcement” so the engineering and construction sectors could plan with confidence and focus on the new timetable for delivery.
“I still believe we can get to net zero by 2050, but it won’t be because of a series of government announcements. It will be because engineers have worked out how to do it and businesses have invested in the technologies and the talent to make it deliverable,” he said.
The National Housing Federation said it is vital that net zero does not slip down the political agenda and that housing associations have the funding they need to deliver their role in meeting this important target.
The NHF has written open letters to both the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt and the Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Countinho to urge them to recommit to the government’s net zero manifesto pledge in the upcoming Autumn Statement and release the full £3.8bn social housing decarbonisation fund to help us decarbonise the country’s social housing.
