Comment on EAC report on fossil fuels and energy supplies

The Environmental Audit Committee report looked at accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels and bolstering UK energy security.

Profile picture of George Smeeton

By George Smeeton

info@eciu.net

Information on this page correct as of:

Commenting on a report by the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) on accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels and bolstering UK energy security [1], Jess Ralston, Head of Energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said:

“With the price of fossil fuels the main driver of the cost of living crisis, many of these recommendations are no brainers – cheap wind and solar power are helping to limit bill increases now so a rapid roll out of more can only be positive. [2] Reducing energy waste from homes by upgrading insulation is popular and sensible, and demand for moving away from gas boilers is growing as people see their gas bills rise while alternative heating systems costs fall.

“There are also costs to not following the Committee’s recommendations; our analysis suggests that if the UK had adopted net zero technologies more rapidly in the past, households could have saved around £1,750 on energy bills last year [3]. And as the Institute for Fiscal Studies has pointed out, with the gas crisis set to continue until end of this year and possibly longer, the billions spent on bailing out billpayers makes the transition away from fossil fuels even more urgent; failing to do so is simply not sustainable.”


Notes to editors:

1. The Environmental Audit Committee report, Accelerating the transition from fossil fuels and securing energy supplies, is available here.

2. ECIU’s Winter Power Tracker how much gas renewables have displaced from the UK power system this winter: https://eciu.net/winter-power-tracker

3. ECIU: Net zero delays add thousands to bills: https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2022/net-zero-delays-add-thousands-to-bills

For more information:

George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net