Committee on Climate Change expresses concerns over Green Deal

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has expressed concerns about the success of the Green Deal following the recent launch of a consultation on the government’s proposals. In an open letter to Chris Huhne MP, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the CCC voiced its concern that the current Green Deal plan will result in an insufficient uptake of loft and cavity wall insulation in the residential sector.

Adair Turner, Chair of the CCC said:  

“DECC’s draft Impact Assessment notes that loft and cavity wall insulation account for much of the cost effective potential to improve energy efficiency in the residential sector, but projects that implementation of these measures will be very limited under the proposed policy approach. This is consistent with our own assessment… Low uptake would be problematic given the need to insulate lofts and cavity walls to meet carbon budgets and to mitigate energy bill impacts from investment in low carbon power generation.”

Mr Turner said that there has been good progress insulating lofts and cavity walls under the current Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) policy. He proposes that “the new policy should build on this, and that DECC / the Government should seriously consider including full potential for loft and cavity wall insulation in the ECO.”

Mr Turner attacked the “low level” of the current policy ambition and urged to government to strengthen the potential for emissions reduction. The full text of the letter can be seen by clicking on the link below.

The Green Deal consultation began on the 23/11/11 and closes 18/01/2012 

Green Deal Letter