Latest news with #ClimateChangeCommittee
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The heat pump planning permission rule change that could affect millions, explained
A change to planning rules is set to make it easier for heat pumps to be installed in homes. Previously, a key planning restriction meant heat pumps had to be 1 metre from a neighbour's property, but the government has changed the rule in a bid to encourage the take-up of the technology. The change is part of the government's Warm Homes Plan, which aims to cut emissions but also lower household bills. The Government has targeted a UK market for heat pumps delivering at least 600,000 installations per year by 2028, meaning the changes could affect millions of people over time. Most homes currently use gas boilers and heating systems, but heat pumps run on electricity, taking in heat from the air or ground and amplifying it using a heat exchanger. However, they are not cheap to install, and campaigners have warned that while changes to planning laws may encourage some homeowners to switch, it will not necessarily help people who rent, or those in leasehold properties - especially in older houses where a new system might also need new pipework or insulation. Consumer groups warn that the biggest barrier to installing a heat pump remains the high upfront costs. Heat pumps are seen as one of the key measures that could help reduce UK emissions and are a priority for the government. Their importance to emission reduction was highlighted in a report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in February, in which it presented what it called a 'new pathway to a decarbonised UK', saying it would result in cheaper bills, energy security and more private sector investment. In the plans, it said 14% of emissions reductions by 2040 could be achieved through residential buildings - thanks to new and replacement homes using low carbon heating installations - mainly heat pumps. Heat pumps have also been touted as potentially saving cash for households, many of whom are facing prohibitively expensive energy bills. Max Schwerdtfeger, from The Eco Experts, said the move could be "vital" to meeting government targets on heat pumps. He told Yahoo News UK: "Removing the 1 metre rule is a brilliant and critical step from the government, and if it does reach its target of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028, we could look back and view it as a vital move. "It means it is less likely that planning applications will be rejected and fewer consumers will drop out of the process of having one installed. "Removing as many barriers to heat pump installation as possible is of the utmost importance because the window of opportunity for getting them installed is usually much smaller than other clean tech. Why? Because people tend to consider heat pumps when either their gas boiler has broken down or it is just nearing the end of its lifecycle. "Either way, if someone needs a heat pump, they need it installed as quickly as possible, and taking any potential friction makes it much more likely they will do so. If they don't, that is a customer the industry has missed out on for a potential decade, or until they need another upgrade. "Every opportunity to get people to upgrade to a heat pump must be taken. Figures suggest that as many as 34% are put off from installing a heat pump because of planning rules. This stat is far too high, and the government should be credited for trying to bring it down. "It should seize this opportunity to expand the Boiler Upgrade Scheme further and facilitate financing options for consumers to install heat pumps." The planning permission change comes after the government announced steps to encourage households to take up measures that would deliver 'cleaner' heating in November last year. The steps - part of the ongoing rollout of the Warm Homes Plan - included the removal of the '1m rule', that meant households wanting to install an air source heat pump within a metre of a neighbour's property would need to submit a planning application. The rule was blamed for a slow take-up of the technology, with Octopus Energy telling the Energy Security and Net Zero (ESNZ) Committee in 2023 that the rule was instrumental in putting people off having a heat pump, saying 27% of customers its customers had been requested to obtain planning permission. It said many customers had decided against heat pumps when they become aware of the planning permission requirements and those who had tried to proceed ended up waiting an extra eight to 10 weeks on average, adding: "The combined impact of all these things mean that very few of the 27% of customers who require planning have made it to install." Announcing its changes in November, the government said it would be: "allowing more households in England to install an air source heat pump without the need to submit a planning application from early next year, by removing the rule requiring them to be installed at least one metre from a property's boundary. This will provide greater flexibility, with rules still in place around listed buildings." The take-up of heat pumps may be slower than targets, but is rising. As of 2023, the total number of certified heat pumps installed across the UK surpassed 200,000, according to figures from the MCS Foundation, the UK's main certification scheme. It said 2023 saw a nearly 20% jump in certified heat pump installations compared to the previous year. Earlier this year, data suggested the UK had seen its busiest ever start to the year for low-carbon heat pump installations, up by one quarter on the previous year. Data suggested that through January, 4,743 of the devices were installed under the MCS, which accounts for the vast majority of heat pumps across the country. Meanwhile, 21% of the UK's new home market had a heat pump installed that month, up from 11% in January 2024, according to energy performance certificate (EPC) data. And in April, government figures said heat pumps were continuing to grow in popularity with a record 4,028 applications received in March – up 88% on the same month last year. A government document published in March 2024, called: 'Heat pumps explained: experts answer your questions', said homeowners could expect to pay £6,500 to £11,500 for a heat pump. Within the document, Joanna O'Loan, Knowledge Manager at Energy Saving Trust, said: "Some installers are now offering highly competitive installation costs, so it's worth exploring your options. We'd recommend getting at least 3 installers to quote, so that you can compare costs and design." The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is a grant system that helps with the cost of the installation of a heat pump. In recent weeks, the government announced a consultation that could see the scheme expanded to include more heat pump alternatives and third-party ownership models. However, figures suggest that the real term average cost of heat pump installations is around the top end of the range quotes in the government document. The argument for heat pumps is that they will save households money, with the government 'experts' document suggesting they could save a typical home £234 a year. In the document, Jo Alsop, co-founder at Warmur, said: "Based on current energy prices, heat pumps can save a typical gas household around £234 per year when they opt for smart electricity tariffs and remove the gas meter. Actual savings can vary depending on how efficiently the heat pump operates. "Modern, well optimised heat pumps perform well at higher temperatures, but households may wish to consider cost effective insulation and some radiator swaps to reduce running costs further."
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Weakening of sales rules may lead to fewer electric cars on UK roads, says climate adviser
The UK government's weakening of vehicle sales rules in April could result in fewer electric cars on British roads and higher carbon emissions, according to its official climate adviser. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said that loopholes announced by Keir Starmer last month for the government's zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate could lead to more plug-in hybrids being sold 'at the expense of some EV sales, which would lead to a further reduction in emissions savings'. The UK brought in the ZEV mandate to force carmakers to sell more electric cars every year, or face the prospect of steep fines. However, the Labour government introduced new 'flexibilities' into the rules after the car industry lobbied heavily to argue that they were economically unsustainable. Experts had previously highlighted apparent flaws in the government's analysis. They told the Guardian they believed the flexibilities would result in much higher sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which emit far more carbon than electric cars because they combine a polluting internal combustion engine with smaller batteries. T&E, a campaign group on transport and environmental issues, said the changes would mean as many as 500,000 additional PHEVs on UK roads by 2030. Heidi Alexander, the transport minister, claimed the ZEV mandate changes would have a 'negligible change to the carbon emissions'. However, the CCC highlighted that Department for Transport analysis assumed carmakers would not use greater flexibilities to sell more PHEVs – an assumption thought to be incorrect by experts. It outlined its analysis in a letter on Wednesday from Piers Forster, the CCC's interim chair, to Lilian Greenwood, a transport minister. Ben Nelmes, the chief executive of the thinktank New AutoMotive, said: 'The CCC's verdict is clear: ministerial meddling with electric car rules risks creating damaging uncertainty. Drivers will be the ones picking up the tab, waiting longer to benefit from EV savings, while net zero defeatists cheer from the sidelines.' Some people in the electric vehicle industry said they were disappointed that the CCC did not call for the government to reconsider the proposed policy changes given the possibility that they would result in higher carbon emissions. Tim Dexter, the vehicle policy manager for T&E, said: 'The CCC's letter reveals a critical weakness in the government's revised zero emissions vehicle mandate, jeopardising its climate goals and increasing costs for drivers.' Colin Walker, the head of transport for the campaign group Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: 'The increase in vehicle emissions could be considerable. As well as driving the uptake of more polluting and expensive PHEVs, the government's changes risk distracting the UK's car industry from making the shift to building EVs, leaving it stuck building obsolete hybrids while the world moves to EVs – a recipe for factory closures and mass redundancies.' However, the CCC said the government changes were pragmatic and minor relative to the trend of increasing EV sales – to the chagrin of some in industry. The CCC also criticised the government for failing to ban petrol and diesel van sales by 2030, instead opting for 2035. It said: 'We are disappointed that the phase-out date for vans has not also been restored to 2030.' A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: 'Our recent changes strike a practical balance - giving manufacturers flexibility to sell plug-in hybrids until 2035, while sticking to our commitment to the 2030 phase-out of new petrol and diesel cars.' The changes 'will have a minimal impact on emissions' it said, and would protect jobs.
Telegraph
24-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Scotland will not reach net zero until 2080
Scotland will not reach its net zero emissions target until 2080, according to a new analysis that prompted calls for SNP ministers to 'wake up and accept reality'. The SNP government has boasted of setting a world-leading target of achieving net zero in Scotland by 2045, five years earlier than the UK as a whole. However, an analysis of official figures published by the Tories found that the target would not be reached until 2080 at the current rate of progress, 35 years after the SNP's deadline. Over the five years between 2019 and 2024 - which included lockdown - Scotland's emissions fell by an annual average of around 0.75 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e). At that rate, it would take a further 56 years of reductions for Scotland's total emissions of 42.1MtCO2e to be reduced to zero. Net zero means that Scotland's greenhouse gases would be equal to the emissions removed from the atmosphere. The Tories said the figures showed the SNP's 2045 target was 'little more than a pipe dream' and urged ministers to forget about meeting 'arbitrary deadlines.' They warned ministers against imposing on families policies with 'eye-watering costs' forcing them to replace their boilers with heat pumps, buy electric cars or cut their meat consumption. The analysis was published after the Climate Change Committee (CCC) estimated earlier this week that hitting the 2045 target could cost 'around £750 million per year'. The official government advisory body told ministers that meeting the deadline would mean a 'rapid increase' in the number of electric vehicles and installed heat pumps.
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
TIM EAGLE: These unrealistic recommendations could spell the end of the Sunday roast
Being a farmer isn't just like any other job. It is a complete way of life for us. It is a huge part of our identity, and I never tire of telling people about my sheep farming background. That work on my farm in my home area of Moray helps form many of my opinions and outlook on things happening in the Scottish Parliament. Indeed, it is why I made one of my earliest speeches since becoming an MSP last year live from my lambing shed. But while those who are detached from what being a farmer or working in agriculture entails, this week we learned of another potential hammer blow to our future prospects. This time it came from an extensive report from the Climate Change Committee who were handing down advice on Scotland's carbon budgets to the SNP government. While the initial headlines - including in this paper's Wednesday edition - were taken up by the revelation that the costs of hitting net zero each year will be a jaw-dropping £750 million per year - there was something much more alarming for our farmers buried within the report. The committee report talks about reducing cattle and sheep numbers by over a third by 2045 - the year the SNP say they want to achieve net zero. Cattle numbers are already declining in Scotland and stood at close to 1.7 million last year. Yet if the SNP give these recommendations the green light, then that number would be reduced by 550,000 over the next two decades. And as for sheep, these proposals are recommending a cull of over two million sheep. It's bad enough thinking about that prospect as an animal lover as they are seen as the go-to target to try and desperately ensure climate targets are hit, but this is about more than just raw numbers. Do SNP ministers seriously think this is a realistic proposal to help them with their 2045 target? Sheep and hill farmers are already under huge pressure and dealing with tight margins. How do they think they could survive if you suddenly have two million fewer sheep across Scotland's land? As we have seen with the understandably furious reaction to Labour's cruel Family Farm Tax introduced last year by Rachel Reeves, if there are no farmers, then there is no food. Surely someone on the committee should have looked at this advice and thought we're making the farmers the easy target again once again. But there was more to come on top of the livestock culling. The committee also want red meat consumption to be cut by a third compared to 2019 levels. Now I'm all for promoting a healthy lifestyle, but eating red meat can easily form a part of that, something which more and more people seem to want to try and shoot down. Eating our red meat supports our farmers and some of Scotland's most iconic products that are known across the globe for how tasty they are. Frankly these overarching recommendations could spell the death knell for the ever-popular Sunday roast. Those on the committee probably haven't even thought about that. To most people and not just those living in rural Scotland, it will look like they have plucked some numbers out of thin air and demand that they are hit. Yet it's not just our farmers and land managers who could be hit, our struggling hospitality sector could be as well. They'll read this with horror and tell the committee, hands off our carvery and hands off our burgers. Reducing the red meat consumption by such dramatic numbers isn't living in the real world. Everybody accepts that they need to do their bit to tackle climate change and protect the planet for future generations. But the committee and out-of-touch SNP ministers who remain wedded to their 2045 target date at all costs need to recognise you do that by bringing in pragmatic and sensible measures and engaging with key sectors, not hitting them with arbitrary targets. And how about SNP ministers recognising for once that farmers and the agriculture sector are already doing their bit to tackle climate change. Emissions from agriculture have fallen by 12 per cent since 1990. Farmers are constantly looking at new ways to produce their food and investing in green technology, but they need governments and key committees like this one to be on their side. Right now, they are being treated as a punch bag by bureaucrats and politicians who think they know best. Well, I've got news for them. Farmers like me are not just going stand on the ropes being battered anymore. We're fighting back and all we want is to be listened to.
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Plans to tell families to eat less meat could be death-knell for the Sunday roast
Scots families face being told to eat less meat and farmers to cut the number of sheep and cattle under the SNP 's push for Net Zero. The Scottish Government's climate advisers have demanded a 30 per drop in meat consumption and a 36 per cent cut in sheep and cattle numbers to hit the 2045 target. Farmers said the 'deeply concerning' plans would 'devastate' hard-pressed businesses and issued a warning over the threat to the traditional Sunday roast. With more than 90 per cent of Scottish beef and 80 per cent of Scots lamb sold in the UK, the Scottish Conservatives warned ministers not to treat farmers as 'easy targets' in the scramble for Net Zero. Scottish Tory rural affairs spokesman Tim Eagle, who runs a sheep farm near Buckie, Moray, said: 'These overarching recommendations could spell the death knell for the ever-popular Sunday roast. 'Everyone needs to do their bit to tackle climate change, but it looks as though the committee have earmarked farmers to be an easy target once again. 'Killing off millions of livestock and asking people to drop their red meat consumption isn't just unrealistic, it threatens a way of life. 'The way to achieving net zero ambitions is by bringing key sectors such as agriculture along with the rest of us but instead they will feel vilified by these proposals.' The independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) this week set out a 'balanced pathway' to end Scotland's net carbon emissions. Relying on 'immediate action at pace and scale', the plan would cost £750million a year over 25 years and requires huge changes in vehicle use, home heating and energy generation. But the fine print also contained stark proposals for agriculture. As well as restoring peatland and tree planting to absorb carbon, the CCC called for 'a reduction in meat (especially beef and lamb) and dairy consumption within overall healthier diets' so farmers can 'diversify income streams' and produce 'lower carbon foods'. Cattle and sheep numbers should drop 26 per cent by 2035 and by 36 per cent by 2045, with average meat consumption down 20 per cent by 2035 and 30 per cent by 2045. The report said: 'Households consuming on average 30 per cent less meat and 20 per cent less dairy by 2045 reduces emissions directly from livestock and frees up land to enable peatland restoration, tree planting, and energy crops.' The Tories said it implied culling millions of animals. The CCC says the 'exact pathway and policies' are for ministers and MSPs to decide. According to the annual agricultural census, there were 6.5 million sheep and lambs in Scotland last June and 1.7million cattle and calves, including 650,000 beef and 266,000 dairy cows. There were also 12 million poultry, 315,000 pigs and 16,000 farmed deer. Sales of Scottish beef and lamb across the UK were worth £750 million in 2023. With 63 per cent of Scottish beef and 58 per cent sheep meat sold to the rest of the UK, a livestock slump would hit eating habits nationwide. The National Farmers Union Scotland said the proposed cuts to sheep and cattle numbers were 'deeply concerning' and would 'devastate' low-profit hill farms in particular. Scotland President Andrew Connon said: 'We must be crystal clear: slashing livestock numbers is not the solution. 'Scottish agriculture is already among the most climate-efficient in the world with many farmers already adopting new technologies, renewable energy and nature-friendly practices. 'With the right backing, we can go further but that journey must be fair, practical and properly supported.' Holyrood's Climate Change Act of 2009 set a target for reducing 'greenhouse gas emissions' by 80 per cent by 2050, but this was changed in 2019 to eliminating them by 2045, with interim targets for 2020, 2030 and 2040. SNP ministers were forced to ditch the interim targets but they kept the overarching goal of Net Zero by 2045. Tory analysis of emissions figures suggests it will take until 2080 to reach Net Zero at the current pace. Net Zero spokesman Douglas Lumsden said: 'If the SNP remain wedded to hitting 2045, this report makes it clear households will suffer eye-watering costs being imposed, or there will have to be drastic changes in lifestyles.'
