The boss of listed radiator maker Stelrad has called on the Government to take a more “joined up” approach to net zero.
Trevor Harvey’s comments come in the wake of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s speech in which he rowed back on and delayed a number of green targets that have drawn criticism from some sectors. Included in the measures was a relaxation of the ban on gas boilers in all new homes from 2025 to 2035.
And plans for new heating systems to be low carbon by 2035 were scrapped, along with responsibilities for home owners to make energy efficiency upgrades. Mr Harvey said: “Decarbonisation, improving energy efficiency and supporting consumers and households are all intertwined with one another and I actually think yesterday’s measures announced by the Government went a large way to acknowledging that.
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“By removing legislative deadlines while simultaneously improving the incentive for home owners to install heat pumps or biomass boilers to £7,500, the Government is getting rid of an arbitrary cliff edge alongside helping to make lower carbon systems more financially attractive at a time when families are struggling with the cost of living crisis.
“However, we continue to urge the Government to take a more joined up approach to the wider issue – heating UK homes produces around 17% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions so it is imperative that we have a plan that incentivises homeowners to take as many practical measures as possible, including things such as insulating their homes more effectively and installing more modern and efficient radiators.”
Following the net zero speech, the chief executive of parliament’s Climate Change Committee, said the Government seemed to be slipping further off track from meeting its legally binding 2030 emissions targets. Chris Stark said: “It’s difficult to escape the idea that we’ve moved backwards from where we were when we did our last assessment of progress.”
That was in June when his organisation determined the Government was falling behind in its objectives to meet the 2030 emissions targets – seen as a key milestone towards achieving net zero by 2050.
Stelrad, which is based in Newcastle and has manufacturing facilities in South Yorkshire, has previously called on the Government to do more to help people decarbonise their homes. In March this year, the firm specifically called for more support for industry retraining as well as education programmes for the general public.
Mr Harvey said rising energy prices had focussed customers’ minds on energy efficiency measures – a trend that he hoped would drive long term demand for Stelrad’s products.
Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
