The Committee on Climate Change published the Fifth Carbon Budget at the end of last month. The CCC was established to advise the British government and devolved bodies on meeting future carbon targets. It makes for an interesting read but beneath the surface there is some unpalatable news for the politicians on fuel poverty.
Fuel poverty has been around for years – rising from 3.3 million households in 2007 to 4.5 million in 2013. But the bad news continues. Looking at the targets for devolved administrations, we can see just how far they are from succeeding. In Scotland, 39 per cent of households are in fuel poverty, with politicians looking to November 2016 to ‘eradicate fuel poverty as far as reasonably practical’. In Wales, 30 per cent of households are in fuel poverty, with a promise to ‘eradicate fuel poverty by 2018’ and in Northern Ireland, 42 per cent are in fuel poverty and their politicians promised to ‘eradicate fuel poverty by 2016’. Frankly, sorry to be blunt, but 2016 is just a few weeks away.
Well what of the CCC and the Fifth Carbon Budget? Now you have to read the document carefully – the actual words really matter. So I’ll quote directly: ‘If all fuel poor households received a targeted share of the energy efficiency and low-carbon heat measures included in our carbon budget scenarios, UK fuel poverty levels could be reduced to 3.3 million by 2030’.
Yes, that’s right; with correct targeting the UK just might get fuel poverty back to the 2007 level in another 15 years. If that doesn’t send a message to politicians what will? Fifteen more years to get back to where we were eight years ago.
But it gets worse. The CCC goes on to say:
‘For energy efficiency measures, this would require funding of around £1.4bn per year, a level which was achieved under the ECO until its scope was reduced in 2014’
The day before this Fifth Carbon was published, the government scrapped ECO from 2017 and announced that its replacement would contribute only a third of the original scheme. The conclusion is obvious and damning. Even this risible reduction in fuel poverty levels, taking us back to 2007, by 2030 will not be funded. What hope of eradicating fuel poverty in the UK, the fifth richest country in the world?
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Mike Foster is chief executive of Energy and Utilities Alliance, a not-for-profit organisation based in Kenilworth
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