Rescaling the UK energy system

Next steps

Panellists agreed that the UK has demonstrated progressive global leadership with respect to climate change and emissions reduction. Notably the 2008 Climate Change Act was ground-breaking as the first legally binding emissions reduction targets across the globe. Joan MacNaughton suggested the UK Government should receive credit for decoupling economic growth from carbon emissions since the 1990s, the panel identified emerging Brexit-related challenges; for example, economic uncertainty and the fall in the value of the pound delayed the construction of interconnection infrastructure with Iceland and Ireland, which would have delivered wind and geothermal energy. It was also unclear whether the UK would, said panellist Joseph Dutton, leave the single EU energy market against industry lobbying advice.

The panel identified some regressive steps in, with the UK falling from 9th to 11th since 2014 on the World Energy Council’s ‘trilemma index’ and being placed on ‘negative watch’, along with falling to 14th on the EY ‘renewables attractiveness index’ for inward investment. Joan MacNaughton particularly criticised the cancellation of the Government’s Carbon Capture and Storage commercialisation programme,

Other further challenges identified included decarbonising heating, buildings and transport. Professor Walker characterised the scrapping of the ‘Zero Carbon Homes Standard’ as an ‘appalling act of policy violence’, but was optimistic about wider change as energy systems become ‘more local, more smart and more integrated’. Gordon Walker argued that the UK needs to both decarbonise but also ‘de-energise’. The smart meter programme was hailed by Clive Maxwell, representing the UK Government as a discussant, as creating an integrated system which enables better balancing of electricity supply and demand. He also emphasised the need to understand consumer motivations to drive household-scale changes.

Overall the panellists derived several key points that policy should seek to address in the future. Policy should understand people as no longer passive consumers but ‘active policy takers’. Government must articulate and communicate its vision for the future of energy; policy must be better coordinated, with developing synergies between heat, power and transport a priority; there must be stability for investors laying down projects now with a lifespan of 20 – 40 years; Government policy must push in a consistent, progressive direction; and finally, the availability of skills to deliver energy system transformation must be considered.