The House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee today launched an inquiry to explore the challenges and solutions associated with meeting the UK’s 2020 renewable energy targets for heat and transport. Recent Frontier (Europe) work has highlighted some of the key issues related to the Government’s aim to meet 12% of heat demand from renewable sources.

Frontier’s recent report for the UK Department for Energy and Climate Change explored challenges associated with increasing uptake in the renewable heating sector. Review of the evidence found that the upfront costs of renewable systems remain a barrier, and current policy has been more successful in appealing to customers pro-actively replacing heating systems rather than those with an immediate need to replace their systems.

Recent Frontier research for the UK Committee on Climate Change also highlighted the important role for policy in overcoming barriers to the roll out of district heating.  New policy solutions could include a financial incentive to address carbon externalities in the market. Additional policies could be applied in zones where district heat is found to be cost-effective – for example, subsidies for alternative low carbon heating interventions could be restricted within these zones.

Frontier regularly advises clients on issues relating to low carbon and renewable heating.

For more information, please contact media@frontier-economics.com, or call +44 (0)20 7031 7000.