Committee urges government action on ECO

The recommendations come in a report to parliament on the UK’s progress against its carbon targets by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) – an independent statutory body.

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the main subsidy for energy efficiency work used by social landlords, is due to end in 2017 and the CCC said a future plan for energy efficiency in residential buildings is needed by the middle of next year at the latest.

The report also called for government action to address a ‘significant shortfall’ in adoption of low carbon heating, pointing out that the government’s existing target that 12% of heating should be supplied by these systems by 2012 ‘no longer looks achievable’.

Low carbon heat was used in only 1.6% of buildings in 2014. The report also called for support to be better targeted at households in fuel poverty – saying that support should increase from £0.7bn a year to £1.2bn a year to meet the government’s own targets.

Julie Hirigoyen, chief executive of the UK Green Building Council, said: ‘The committee has issued a clear warning – progress on improving our buildings is currently falling short. The government must follow its advice and agree an action plan for energy efficiency.’

Although insulation installations rose in 2014 – for example, the number of cavity walls insulated increased by 87% from 2013 to 2014 – the CCC said that ‘uptake continued to remain well below rates under the previous schemes’ which finished in 2012.

Paul Ciniglio, sustainability and asset strategist at housing association First Wessex, said: ‘We need a stable, long-term strategy for ECO funding as without it we can’t easily plan our investment in energy efficiency at scale.’

Carbon emissions from residential homes dropped 2%, adjusted for temperatures, last year.

A spokesperson for the Department of Energy & Climate Change, said: ‘We are committed to meeting our climate change target of an 80% emissions reduction by 2050.’