Yesterday’s Carbon Delivery Plan is a high-stakes gamble – one that places Britain’s industrial backbone, clean heat ambitions and net zero future in jeopardy, warns ADE.
The Plan, unveiled yesterday, hinges mostly on the upcoming Autumn Budget and Warm Homes Plan, offering no firm commitments with little on consumer-led flexibility, and nothing new for industrial electrification. On heat networks, the policy recommendations have no active mechanisms to deliver progress.
Without targeted support, the UK has no credible path to meeting its legally binding climate goals – threatening 1.4 million jobs across rural Britain and missing the opportunity to unlock the benefits of low-carbon heat networks
Earlier this month, ADE: Demand, leading a powerful coalition of UK organisations, sent an urgent plea to the Chancellor, demanding a lifeline for British industry outside the Government designated clusters. Yet, the Plan does not even acknowledge the scrapping of the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.
In this precarious situation, the Government is committing a balancing act which if this does not pay off could see long term damage to its net zero goals. ADE is calling on policymakers to use the Autumn Budget and Warm Homes Plan to deliver real funding and policies for industry, clean heat and consumer-led flexibility.
Caroline Bragg, CEO of ADE, said, “To meet our legally binding carbon targets, energy demand, heat decarbonisation in particular, must be given serious attention. Just building out more electricity networks won’t cut it – the Government must focus on optimising the system through heat networks, industrial decarbonisation and consumer-led flexibility”
