Stark: White paper ‘fails to address lifestyle changes’

The energy white paper is weak on the steps required to encourage members of the public to embrace decarbonised lifestyles, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee has told MPs.

Giving evidence to the BEIS select committee yesterday (12 January), Chris Stark said the white paper showed that the government has “come a long way” in terms of measures to cut emissions.

“A few years ago, we would have seen a very different energy white paper. We have actions for most areas we need to see covered for emissions reduction.”

But he said that the Prime Minister’s 10-point green recovery plan and the white paper, which were published in November and December respectively, both failed to address the lifestyle changes individuals will have to make to help achieve the government’s net-zero goal.

“It (the white paper) is a big beast but it’s not all encompassing. We don’t see a strategy for behaviour change to the extent that we need for emissions reduction at scale.

“We see more opportunities to do more emissions savings through behaviour change, such as changing diets, that we don’t see in the 10-point plan.”

Stark also criticised the government’s proposals on the decarbonisation of heat and buildings as “sluggish” and said there must be a better understanding of the commercial models for cutting emissions.

“It is really good on what must be done on big infrastructure but more opaque on how it should be delivered.”

Stark’s concern about winning the public around was backed up by Energy UK chief executive Emma Pinchbeck.

“The focus is largely on infrastructure and the market, less on how we will bring people with us, which is where big changes to public behaviour are required.”

However, she said it is a “massive strength” that net zero is now driving energy policy and noted the nods in the white paper to renewable technologies like wave and tidal, which have received little recent focus from government.

Sam French, interim chair of the Decarbonised Gas Alliance, said at least 5GW of hydrogen could be delivered for a “quarter” of the £20 billion that is due to be invested in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant.

But Pinchbeck, who was deputy chief executive at RenewableUK before taking her current role, pointed to the expense involved in running an electricity system entirely on renewable technologies.

She said: “I’ve yet to see a credible decarbonisation plan for the UK that doesn’t have a nuclear power station in it. Most pathways include nuclear and other technologies even when the backbone is renewables.”