Tuesday’s cabinet and ministerial reshuffle saw both Greg Barker and Michael Fallon leave the department and replaced by Amber Rudd and Matthew Hancock as climate change minister and energy minister respectively.
On Rudd’s appointment, Paul King, chief executive at UKGBC, said: “This is one of the most important briefs in government and Amber Rudd can’t simply run out the clock to the election.
“There are some vitally important that need action in this parliament, not least the promised mandatory energy performance standards for some of the UK’s most inefficient buildings.”
He also welcomed Hancock to Decc, but added that Barker’s departure would leave a “big hole in government”.
Maria McCaffery, chief executive of Renewable UK, agreed with King that she is eager for work on energy policy to continue, and said it will be beneficial that Hancock will be attending cabinet meetings.
She acknowledged the role Fallon played in the development of the Energy Act and added “it is important that momentum is not lost”.
The Renewable Energy Association’s chief executive, Nina Skorupska, stated she was looking forward to working with the new ministerial team, and paid tribute to Barker’s “passion and enthusiasm”.
Energy secretary Ed Davey also thanked both Barker and Fallon for their “immense contributions” to energy policy, and added that the new ministers would be “an enormous asset” to Decc.
Barker announced his resignation from Decc, and his decision not to stand at the next general election, in a letter to the prime minister, before he posted the news on Twitter on Monday night.
In his letter to Cameron, the Bexhill and Battle MP said it was the “right time” for him to leave parliament come May next year and therefore “it would also seem the right time to now step down as a minister”.
Barker added: “Although this coalition has plenty more to do, we can already say with pride, on the basis of what we have already delivered, this is genuinely the greenest government ever and I am proud to have played my part.”