Credit: Chris McAndrew CC BY 3.0
A 2020 zero carbon building standard is among 30 recommendations that the Labour Party has made to decarbonise the UK. It said the UK should be put on a ‘climate emergency’ footing for the next decade.
The 30 recommendations span four goals: reducing energy waste; decarbonising heating; boosting renewable and low carbon electricity generation; and keeping the system balanced to ensure security of supply.
Labour said that, if its recommendations are implemented, the UK would cut UK energy emissions by 77%, compared to 2010. It said the proposed investment in the energy sector would lead to a net benefit of £800bn to the UK economy.
Its four key goals by 2030 are to reduce heat demand by 20%, cut electricity demand by 11%, increase supply of renewable and low carbon heat to 50%, and increase supply of renewable and low carbon electricity to 90%.
The plan recommends establishing a pledge to heat all new buildings by ‘renewable or low carbon energy only (or as close as possible), with no fossil-fuel heating from 2020’.
Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said: ‘The recommendations in this report could put the UK on track for a zero carbon energy system during the 2030s – but only if rapid progress is made early on. The next five years are, therefore, crucial.’
