The Climate Change Committee published its 2022 Progress Report to Parliament on the UK's net-zero journey, warning of "major failures in delivery programmes" relating to home energy efficiency1. The report recommended insulating more homes1.
The report raised concerns about the government's policy focus on what it described as unproven, fledgling technological solutions, including carbon capture and storage and hydrogen, at a time when emissions reductions across many sectors have historically been driven by energy efficiency measures1. It also placed its recommendations on decarbonising housing in the context of the energy price crisis1.
"The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has published its latest Report to Parliament on the UK's net-zero journey, warning that there are "major failures in delivery programmes" relating to home energy efficiency."
Home energy consumption accounts for around 20% of total carbon emissions in the UK, according to Low Carbon Hub, which said this could be reduced through energy efficiency improvements to homes1. The same account states that UK buildings are poorly insulated and energy inefficient, and that there is little incentive to improve this because commercial operators continue to sell more energy1. It adds that insulation and retrofit would reduce energy bills for those hit hardest by energy price increases, and that such improvements address damp and draughts1.
The report's specific recommendations on home energy efficiency, beyond insulating more homes, have not been reported in the available material1. Neither the number of homes the Committee said should be insulated, nor any delivery timetable, appears in it1.
Why it matters for households
A home's energy independence rests largely on how much heat it loses and how much it has to buy to stay warm. The Committee's finding of delivery failures points to a gap between the stated aim of improving the energy efficiency of the UK housing stock and what programmes have actually delivered1. For a household, that gap shows up as a dwelling that still leaks heat, and as bills that track wholesale prices rather than the fabric of the building.
The report's framing matters for owners and tenants alike. Energy efficiency standards for the private rented sector in England and Wales sit under MEES, while privately rented homes in Scotland are covered by separate energy efficiency standards. New-build performance is addressed through the Future Homes Standard. All of these sit within the wider framework of carbon budgets and net zero targets that the Committee advises on.
The Committee's warning also bears on how retrofit is sequenced. Low Carbon Hub notes that energy efficiency measures should be installed to get the best results from installations such as heat pumps, citing trials in rural, off-gas communities1. Where a home is improved first, the same heating system does more with less purchased energy.
What happens next
No dated next steps are set out in the available material1. The report itself is a recommendation to Parliament; what government does in response has not been reported here1.
Sources1 cited
- Energy Efficiency: the first renewable energy - Low Carbon Hub, lowcarbonhub.org