December 2020
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***
This conference focuses on next steps in the drive to improve energy efficiency in homes in England - at a time of significant policy and funding initiatives to support decarbonisation, linked to economic recovery.
The discussion is bringing together stakeholders with key policy officials due to attend from BEIS; Defra; the NAO; DIT; the Government Legal Department; the Office for Product Safety and Standards; The Scottish Government; and the Welsh Government.
The agenda:
- Domestic energy efficiency rollout in England and next steps for enabling the low-carbon transition
- The Green Homes Grant - priorities for delivery and supporting a green economic recovery
- Designing an accreditation model that supports trust, confidence and development across England
- Ensuring the Grant’s effectiveness - targeting, engaging households and communities, and long-term energy cost reduction
- Building consumer trust and confidence in the energy efficiency market
- The impact of energy efficiency projects and initiatives on wider economic development - skills and employment, supply chains, and the low-carbon transition for local governments
- Setting ambitious and effective standards for decarbonising households and residential energy use
- Learning from energy efficiency strategies outside England
- Developing and diversifying investment for energy efficiency improvements
- Energy supplier obligations and priorities for scaling up household engagement in efficiency modernisation
- Priorities for planning system reform that supports expansion of domestic energy efficiency - public engagement, reducing physical barriers, and streamlining the planning process
- Next steps for delivering innovation in energy efficiency, expansion across the property and built environment, and growing the scope of technological options
- Policy priorities for domestic energy efficiency and delivering initiatives for a green economic recovery
Areas for discussion:
- domestic energy efficiency and economic recovery:
- the Green Homes Grant - how best to deliver the available funding, mobilise supply chains and wider stakeholder involvement, and maximise the contribution to economic growth
- confidence and standards - communicating benefits to consumers and industry, accreditation and guaranteeing materials and installation reliability, and ensuing value for money
- mobilising industry and supply chains - accelerating job creation, managing demand for skills across building and construction, and supporting projects on a local and regional level
- local authorities - what they need for the scheme to help achieve decarbonisation targets and reduce fuel poverty
- upside for households:
- communicating access to grant voucher funding
- engaging with communities and those at greatest risk of fuel poverty
- scope for delivering further energy saving measures such as heat pumps and boiler retrofits
- identifying suitable projects - including energy efficiency improvements for schools, hospitals and other public buildings, and new construction projects such as housing developments
- policy priorities:
- the context - the wider market and regulatory frameworks and what they mean for supporting domestic energy efficiency improvements in England
- policy options - what reform can most help address barriers to deployment and accelerate the construction of quality and energy efficient homes going ahead
- coordinating policy and practice - ensuring planning rules, market and industry obligations, and building methods support decarbonisation
- standards - encouraging improvement, and latest thinking on obligations for landlords and property owners to further support low-carbon transitions
- learning from outside England - regulatory and market frameworks for energy efficiency including scope and emphasis in standards, responsibilities, and sanctions
- tackling barriers - physical and financial, including accelerating planning approval, reducing administrative burden, and work with supply chains to reduce material and installation costs
- finance - developing and diversifying funding sources, and opportunities to accelerate energy efficiency rollout and widen the pool of assistance for households and other stakeholders
- supplier-led obligation schemes - next steps, with Energy Company Obligation: ECO3 scheduled to finish in 2022:
- how to encourage greater supplier engagement with customers, including possible changes to supplier obligation thresholds
- increasing retrofit obligations for fuel poor households, including those in rural areas
- latest thinking on how the next framework after 2022 might be designed for greater effectiveness
- innovation:
- R&D and development - funding for start-ups and projects, scaling up commercialisation and market access, and delivering the £40m Clean Growth Fund
- large-scale modernisation - working with the property and built environment sectors, targeting hard-to-decarbonise build stock, and opportunities for alternative heat technology
- innovation rollout - including heat pumps, heat networks, geothermal and other forms of green technology alongside the £80m Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) for homes and industry energy efficiency projects
Relevant developments at a glance:
- policy priorities:
- UK Government commitment to developing the low-carbon economy and prioritising clean growth in COVID-19 economic recovery planning
- The PM’s party conference speech on aims to increase offshore wind power to 40 gigawatts by 2030 and its increase role in domestic energy supply with £160m in funding for turbines
- The PM’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution - with greener buildings as Point 7 including new measures for building low-carbon retrofits, and energy efficiency job creation
- Planning for the future - reform to the planning system, with consultation on how it can be streamlined, and how to integrate energy efficiency priorities across government initiatives
- the Future Homes Standard - which is expected for implementation later this year and will mandate new energy efficiency requirements for all new homes built after 2025
- the Green Homes Grant scheme - extended to 2022, offering £2bn for household energy efficiency improvements in England such as insulation, double glazing, and draft proofing
- the Clean Growth Fund - a venture capital scheme involving government and private investment to support development of low-carbon technologies
- Spending Review 2020 and National Infrastructure Strategy reiterate previous commitments and bring new announcements:
- forthcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy with £122m for the creation of Clean Heat Networks and a £320m Heat Networks Investment Project
- raising minimum energy performance standards of new and existing buildings, and an acceleration of the move to low-carbon heat sources
- £150m earmarked to help the poorest homes become more energy efficient, with £60m for social housing
- Find an EPC assessor - the government’s new digital service helping homeowners improve their energy performance
- Budget 2020:
- the Energy Innovation Programme - commitments to at least double funding by 2024, to support innovation in energy technology including energy efficiency
- a Low Carbon Heat Support Scheme - planned to help commercialise and deliver new heating technologies to users
- the Climate Change Agreement scheme - which is being extended to 2025, enabling businesses to reduce their Climate Change Levy bill by meeting energy efficiency targets
- A New Deal for Britain - announced by the PM, outlining a roadmap for targeted shovel ready infrastructure projects support economic development, including through energy efficiency projects
Policy officials attending
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stake holders. Places have been reserved by BEIS; Defra; the Department for International Trade; the Government Legal Department; the National Audit Office; the Office for Product Safety and Standards; The Scottish Government; and the Welsh Government.
Overall, we expect speakers and attendees to be a senior and informed group including Members of both Houses of Parliament, senior government officials involved in this area of public policy, together with housing developers, associations and constructors, as well as representatives from local government and the energy, heat, engineering, real estate, financial, legal and environmental sectors along with academics, commentators, charities and consumer groups, and reporters from the national and trade media to attend.
This is a full-scale conference taking place online***
- full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
- information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
- conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
- speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
- opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
- a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
- delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
- networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!
Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference