News

IPPC Climate Change report shows why we must act now

Published: 12-10-2018

• IPCC Report calls on governments to take “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented” steps to cut emissions.
• The industry has a role to play in reducing domestic heating emissions.
• The government needs to engender mass uptake of near-zero carbon technology.
• Schemes such as ‘Hy4Heat’ are a start, but do not go far enough.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report calls on governments to do more to cut emissions by 45% by 2030 to keep warming within the relatively sage limit of 1.5C.

Neil Schofield, our Head of Government Affairs said that the industry can play its part in reducing emissions from domestic heating but argued that, “the time for change is now”.

Neil commented: “We have available to us the technologies needed to make a significant difference to the carbon emissions of the UK. A lack of political will however, has long been a barrier to tangible reductions in our carbon emissions.

“The government has a history of underfunding or at least under supporting carbon reducing technology alternatives and stifling their uptake”, Neil said. “We only have to look to the unworkable ‘Green Deal’ that was wrapped-up in bureaucracy and unviable financial costs to see that successive governments have long-lacked the foresight and political will to make positive, fundamental changes to industry legislation.”

Neil added: “The private sector has done a lot and continues to do so. Be it, developing renewable technologies or investing in feasibility studies of alternative fuel sources such as hydrogen. We call on the government departments to do more and support practical and realistic alternatives that will be financially viable and will work in the properties we have in the UK.

“It is time to end the delays, end the confusion and get serious on meeting our carbon reduction targets. To achieve this, the government needs to engender mass uptake of low, or as close to zero, carbon technology by employing a more interventionist approach within the industry.

“Schemes such as the £25 million ‘Hy4Heat’ project are a start but they do not go far enough. £25 million is a drop in the ocean of what we need to do is take the IPCC’s report seriously. It is not enough to rely on pencilled-in projects. For instance, Phase 2b of the ‘Hy4Heat’ project is scheduled to end in March 2021 – giving us just nine years to make use of the zero-carbon potential of hydrogen. With more investment from the government the industry could hasten the development of carbon alternatives.”

Neil concluded: “Other political issues pale into insignificance when climate change is on the agenda – it is high-time that the government took serious steps towards carbon-reduction”.

For more information on cutting carbon emissions why not take a look at our ‘The Future of Fuel’ report.