Our reaction to UK Government's Energy Security Bill

Tom Thackray, CBI Decarbonisation Director, said:

“The Energy Security Bill will help address vulnerabilities laid bare by the global gas and oil crises. The Bill’s much needed measures will accelerate the UK’s shift to net zero power, while also helping to grow key green technologies like carbon, capture, usage/storage (CCUS) and hydrogen.

“The Government has two more actions it now needs to take.  It should follow through on its commitment to speed up planning decisions for electricity infrastructure. And it should urgently bring forward further support to give people more power over their energy bills, creating an all-out national effort to help households better insulate their homes.”

The CBI’s five recommendations to Government that can help business back green growth include:

• Legislating for the fourth ECO scheme before summer recess and commit £1bn annual funding for energy efficiency retrofits and create a new ECO+ scheme.
• Committing to the deployment of at least two more Carbon Capture clusters by 2030.
• Setting out the Contracts for Difference model for Hydrogen, Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), and other renewables.
• Publish an accelerated planning and consenting regime for offshore wind projects to cut approval times from four years to one.
• Broaden Ofgem’s duties to enable anticipatory investment in the grid to accelerate deployment of renewables.

The CBI hosted its Achieving Net Zero Conference on 7-8 June 2022 in central London.  In his keynote speech, Director-General Tony Danker called on the UK Government to give people more control over their energy bills through home energy efficiency measures.

For more information, please visit here.