What lessons should Labour learn from the Government’s energy efficiency woes?
The Government recently announced that they would be tightening their interim emissions reductions targets by legislating for a 78 per cent reduction in emissions by 2035, on the way to net zero by 2050. This marks the latest of what will surely be a string of Government announcements on net zero policy ahead of the UK hosting COP26 in Glasgow this Autumn.
Because of COP26, climate change and environmental policy will be in the spotlight like never before in this country later this year. With a Conservative government keen to advertise its green bona fides to anyone that will listen, advocating for more action to tackle the climate emergency is clearly no longer the preserve of the left and centre-left. The Tory tanks are parked on Labour’s lawn.
Against this backdrop, Labour needs to think carefully about how it communicates its climate offering, particularly because the environmental issue is now so closely linked with broader questions around tax and spend, where the party struggled to convince voters of its credibility at the last election – and, arguably, three before that. The energy efficiency policy landscape could be instructive as Labour tries to think about how to speak about green issues as they continue to move up the political agenda.
If the UK is to reach net zero emissions, the near total elimination of emissions from the UK’s building stock will be required. The residential sector was responsible for 19 per cent share of the total UK carbon emissions in 2019, up from 15 per cent in 2008. In absolute terms, emissions from homes have been stagnant, while many other sectors have seen consistent declines. These figures are indicative of the failures of successive Governments – and, less acutely, devolved administrations – to get grips with emissions from the housing stock. The result is that the UK has some of the least energy efficient homes in Europe. With more people likely to continue working from home as a result of the pandemic, the UK is likely to be punished, in emissions terms, viz-a-viz countries that have done more to tackle the problem.
Because 85 per cent of the homes that will exist in 2050 already exist today, just about every group in this policy space is agreed on what is needed now – a massive Government programme of retrofitting homes with insulation to lofts and walls; draught proofing doors, windows and floors; double or triple glazing windows; smarter appliances; as well as changes to heating systems. This would improve the energy efficiency of our homes – meaning they would require less energy to provide the same benefits in terms of warmth and comfort, in turn, reducing emissions.
The genius behind the Green New Deal as a concept is that it provides an answer to two of the biggest problems facing the country at once – growing inequality, heightened by the coronavirus recession, and the climate emergency. Where once the need for well-paid jobs and the environment wouldn’t get near the same political speech, now politicians frequently like to talk up the need to create and support the ‘green jobs’ of the future.
Energy efficiency is a great example. In few places is there less tension between environmental goals and social goals – like full unemployment and reduced inequality. Research suggests that by 2035, even on the Government’s conservative home insulation targets, retrofitting could support 95,000 annual jobs, benefit the UK economy to the tune of £7.5 billion, and save each household the equivalent of £270 on their yearly energy bills. Importantly, it would also go a very long way lifting out of fuel poverty the 2.4 million people who still struggle to heat their homes adequately because of financial insecurity and the cost of energy. This would cut into the 25,000 ‘excess winter deaths’ in England and Wales, reduce respiratory illnesses including COVID-19, and reduce pressure on the NHS – the annual ‘winter crisis’ might be no more.
So with an open goal staring them in the face, where are the Government? Last July the Chancellor announced the Green Homes Grant – £1.5 billion in subsidies for homeowners to undertake retrofit their homes. It was the Government’s flagship green stimulus scheme, with the Chancellor suggesting it could lead to 140,000 ‘green jobs’ in the construction and building sector. But nine months later the scheme has been nothing short of a calamity – only 5,800 improvements have been carried out. Due to the poor implementation, instead of boosting jobs as intended, the scheme has actually led to some construction businesses laying off staff, and the Government have now withdrawn all but £300 million of the promised investment.
Where last year home insulation was front-and-centre for the Government, it is now conspicuously missing from the Government’s ‘Build Back Better’ communications. Clearly there is an opportunity for Labour to scrutinise what is an egregious public policy failure – and Ed Miliband’s Shadow BEIS team haven’t missed this trick.
But what of the politics more widely? It’s another example of the Government’s rhetoric not matching reality, chiming with a broader Labour attack line. But it’s worth Labour spelling out in their messaging why it is that Tory failure to match their words with actions on the environment will cost voters. Not only will those green jobs not materialise, but the longer we wait to take action on the climate emergency the more it will eventually cost taxpayers. People who work in climate policy like to talk of the ‘least-cost’ pathway to net zero – the more action is delayed and the UK deviates from the least-cost pathway, the more it will cost the economy to make the same emissions cuts in a shorter a time period. Essentially, we need to reach net zero, and Conservative inaction will hit pockets eventually.
Energy efficiency is where there is the biggest gap between Government emissions targets and policy exists currently, but there is divergence in almost every other sector, too. By framing the debate in this way – trying to get voters to view the issue over a longer horizon – Labour can continue to confidently advocate for an even more ambitious climate platform than the Conservatives, be that called a ‘Green New Deal’, a Green Industrial Revolution, or something else, while guarding against well-trodden but effective Tory attacks on whether Labour can be trusted with stewardship of the economy and taxpayers’ money, those all-important electoral issues. Stridently sticking to an ambitious green agenda - one of Keir Starmer’s leadership election pledges – in its public communications will also help the Labour Leadership build much-needed bridges with the left of the party, Labour activists, and younger voters, for whom the climate emergency is the era-defining challenge.
Tom Darling
Tendo Consulting