Engineering firm disputes claims of progress in CCC report

The UK would need to increase the amount of new electricity generation built each year five-fold to meet its net zero targets, according to an engineering firm.

The analysis by Atkins contradicts the independent Climate Change Committee鈥檚 (CCC) report 鈥� released yesterday 鈥� which said the UK was on track to achieve net zero targets for energy generation.

Chris Ball, managing director of nuclear and power for Atkins in Europe and the Middle East, said that unless all forms of energy generation were massively accelerated, the target of decarbonisation by 2035 risks 鈥渘o longer being a credible ambition鈥�.

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The UK needs to ramp up energy generation to hit net zero targets, Atkins said

According to Atkins鈥� analysis, the UK would need to build 12-16GW of new capacity each year to hit decarbonisation targets 鈥� the equivalent of building Ireland鈥檚 entire energy system each year.

The average annual build rate for the past five years was just 3.2GW, while the highest ever recorded in the UK, in 2017, was 6.5GW.

While the CCC鈥檚 2022 Progress Report praised the government鈥檚 deployment renewable energy, it found 鈥渕ajor failings鈥� across many of its other delivery programmes for achieving the UK鈥檚 climate goals.

The 600-page report found 鈥渟cant evidence of delivery鈥� on many of the government鈥檚 targets for Net Zero, with CCC chairman Lord Deben saying that 鈥渉oles must be plugged in its strategy urgently鈥�.

Among its criticisms was the 鈥渟hocking gap in policy鈥� on retrofit for UK homes, with the report noting that promised investment and new policies on the matter had failed to materialise.

>>> Government slammed for 鈥榮hocking鈥� failure on retrofit

>>> Industry leaders attack lack of retrofit focus in 鈥榮upply-side鈥� energy strategy

Climate solutions charity Ashden responded to the report by calling for investment in skills to retrofit UK homes and for the implementation of a national retrofit strategy, as set out by the Construction Industry Training Board.

鈥淭he CCC is right to identify a shocking lack of progress on home insulation. But in places, the truth is even worse than this report suggests,鈥� said Cara Jenkinson, the charity鈥檚 cities manager.

She continued: 鈥淭he report suggests that plans to help local authorities lead home upgrades are broadly on track. In reality, existing council schemes aimed at the fuel poor need to ramp up massively 鈥� but we have few skilled installers and no national skills plan.鈥�

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