ECC committee: Government must show what Green Deal success looks like
Parliament’s Energy and Climate Change (ECC) committee has told the government to get a move on with monitoring the success of its core energy efficiency policies in a new report, out today.
The ECC committee is concerned the government hasn’t worked out what a successful energy efficiency rollout would look like, let alone how to assess whether it meets those criteria. Says the report:
“It is unacceptable that, three years into the life of this parliament, ministers are incapable of defining the actual goals of one of the coalition’s flagship policies.”
Despite the government’s assertion that the Green Deal is intended as a long-term project, press attention has focused on the number of people to sign up – or not – over its first few months in operation.
According to the committee, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said the Green Deal and ECO schemes’ main objective is to reduce carbon. It has calculated potential carbon savings of 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2020.
DECC also hopes the schemes will benefit an extra 100,000 low-income households per year. In written evidence, DECC also estimated the schemes would support between 39,000 and 60,000 jobs in the energy efficiency sector by 2015.
Beyond carbon savings, the committee suggests the government could measure “boosting the low carbon economy, empowering consumers, empowering businesses, levering in new private investment, and ensuring consumer standards are met” to get a wider picture of the success of the Green Deal and ECO.
There’s a lot riding on the success of the Green Deal and ECO: government advisor the Committee on Climate Change told the committee that for the UK to stay within its carbon budgets, six to seven million cavity walls, seven million lofts and over one million solid walls must be insulated by 2020.
But the committee advises against setting targets for efficiency schemes, warning they could lead to hard selling “or even mis-selling” to reach goals.
Assessing whÂÂether or not the Green Deal and its sister policy, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) – aimed at supporting the fuel poor to insulate their houses – are a success requires long-term monitoring. While it’s not possible to assess a project’s success or failure in a few short months, it’s not possible simply to trust that takeup will improve with time, either.