December 12, 2024

UKERC Review of Energy Policy 2024

In its annual Review of Energy Policy, the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) identifies necessary steps that must be taken across the whole energy system to hit the UK’s climate targets.

The report highlights a number of concerns and issues for the government:

• The government’s 2030 target must not distract from the necessary expansion of the whole electricity system after 2030, as heat and transport become increasingly electrified
• The government must ensure that the energy transition delivers for vulnerable consumers – the government must ensure that vulnerable households’ needs are met and provide clarity on the Warm Homes Plan
• 50% of industrial energy consumption is still provided by fossil fuels – an industrial strategy must focus on decarbonisation to achieve the UK’s net zero goals
• The continued use of gas and its decommissioning – the government must address how gas will be funded as gas volume declines, as well as manage the daunting challenge of gas infrastructure’s decline and phase-out
• Protect nature alongside development of renewable power – the Clean Power Mission must consider negative environmental effects, as laid out by the Environment Act

Journalists came to this online briefing to hear from three authors of the report and put their questions to them.

Speakers included:

Prof Rob Gross, Director of UKERC and Director of the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology at Imperial College London

Dr Jess Britton, Research Fellow in Local and Regional Energy Systems at the University of Edinburgh

Prof Keith Bell, Professor of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde