Revise RHI or miss heat targets, ECCC warns government

Biomethane is “crucial” to the UK hitting its 2020 renewable heat target and must remain a “funding priority”.

The Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC) has warned government that its proposed reforms to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which will see heat pumps prioritised over biomass, are not the “optimal pathway” to meeting the target and should therefore be revised.

In its report into the 2020 renewable heat and transport targets the ECCC has warned that the UK is on course to miss both sub-clauses of the overall renewable energy target.

The UK is not yet halfway towards the 12 per cent heat target, and the proportion of renewable energy used in transport actually fell last year.

The country is however expected to hit the 30 per cent renewable electricity target.

In the wake of the vote to leave the European Union the UK must recommit to the targets or set replacements or risk undermining confidence in the government’s commitment to its legally binding 2050 carbon targets.

ECCC chair Angus MacNeil said: “The experts we spoke to were clear: the UK will miss its 2020 renewable energy targets without major policy improvements.

“Failing to meet these would damage the UK’s reputation for climate change leadership. The government must take urgent action on heat and transport to renew its efforts on decarbonisation.”

The ECCC also said that the creation of a single department for energy and industry could enable “more joined-up” thinking, but could also result in climate change issues being “buried by conflicting concerns.”

It added that the government should consider re-introducing a tiered system of Vehicle Exercise Duty to restore incentives for electric cars and other ultra-low emission vehicles if the government is to achieve its ambition of all new cars to be ultra-low emission by 2040.