Build Back Better

Build Back Better: Rundown regions have most to gain

Build Back Better quick wins: Prospect’s Sue Fern on EVs and new nuclear

We continue our series leading up to an expected emergency budget by asking Sue Ferns senior deputy general secretary at the union Prospect, her views on where pace could be picked up to accelerate a green recovery.

CCC sets new date for ban on petrol and diesel car sales

Phasing out the sale of internal combustion engine cars and vans should be accelerated to 2032, the government’s influential climate change watchdog has urged. In its latest progress report on the UK’s efforts to cut emissions, the Committee on Climate Change also urges a rapid acceleration of hydrogen production and a move to annual Contracts for Difference auctions.

‘If UK doesn’t back green hubs, investors will look elsewhere’

Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has urged the government to commit to low-carbon clusters across the country or risk investment going abroad. He also put forward a spirited defence of hydrogen and CCS as “proven” technologies.

Customer experience: Lessons from lockdown for energy suppliers

The UK’s lockdown period for coronavirus has prompted a mass recalibration of expectations around customer experience. How have consumers felt this change in their interactions with energy suppliers? And to what extent have suppliers been able to maintain control of the experience they have delivered for customers?

CBI urges government to close net-zero policy gap quickly

The Confederation of British Industry has put pressure on the government to make up for lost time during the pandemic by ensuring that its decarbonisation policy framework is in place by the end of this year.

Scottish Power: RIIO2 will test scale of UK’s green ambitions

Ofgem’s draft determinations on RIIO2 next month must “send the right signals on the central role electricity networks have in delivering net zero”, according to Scottish Power. Ensuring the price control framework stimulates economic opportunities to drive forward decarbonisation is one of “10 practical steps for a green recovery” put forward by the company.

PM urged to take note of public zeal for net zero action

The members of the pioneering citizens assembly, which has been set up to help the UK chart a route to net-zero emissions, have overwhelmingly backed using post-pandemic stimulus measures to support carbon reduction. The chairs of the select committees which commissioned the assembly urged Boris Johnson to take account of the findings from an interim report on the views of the Climate Assembly UK.

Build Back Better quick wins: Audrey Gallacher on creating 42,000 jobs

Build Back Better quick wins: Michael Lewis on efficiency and heat pumps

Energy UK: ‘EVs must be integral to car scrappage scheme’

Energy UK has backed limiting any post-lockdown car scrappage scheme to electric vehicles (EVs). The plea is made as part of a series of proposals put forward by the trade body on for the role that the energy sector can play in a Covid-19 economic recovery package.

Build Back Better with Utility Week

Public concern for environment growing but water left behind

Despite the driest spring on record the British public still overwhelmingly considers the UK to be a wet place and many have no concerns about future water supplies. That is according to a new report by Love Water which also suggests people are more aware and concerned about the natural world as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.

‘As homes become offices, energy efficiency is more vital than ever’

A national home upgrade programme will be the centrepiece of a five-point plan by Energy UK for putting the sector at the heart of the economy’s post-lockdown recovery. The trade body’s economics director Sam Hollister put the case forward that the widespread adoption of homeworking during the lockdown had increased the urgency of improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing stock

Government rules out mandating smart meter installations