Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Significant uncertainty remains as to whether consumers will rapidly change their behaviours in line with...
Conclusion
Significant uncertainty remains as to whether consumers will rapidly change their behaviours in line with the expectations of government’s Net Zero Strategy. For government to achieve net zero by 2050 requires extensive consumer engagement with its policies and behaviour change in line with its objectives, from installing heat pumps and better insulation to driving electric vehicles. For example, government has a target of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028, and that by 2035 all new cars and vans sold are to be zero emission. However, government has a poor track record of engaging consumers, including over-estimating buy-in to its policies. For now, the cost to consumers of these products can be high, although government is confident that this will change and the cost of, for example, a heat pump will be lower by 2035 than the cost of a gas boiler. In addition, the Department does not yet have a picture of the cumulative impacts its net zero policies are having on individuals and groups, although it is monitoring public attitudes to net zero issues on a quarterly basis. Recommendation: The Department should: • Include consumer take-up relative to expectations, and how different social groups are being impacted, in its annual progress updates. • Conduct scenario planning to prepare for and inform situations where consumer take-up falls below expectations. • Evaluate the causes of any consumer take-up shortfalls, to inform policy responses.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2022 2.2 The Net Zero Strategy sets out how the government will support the public to make green choices, including making the green choice easier, cheaper and clearer. The department’s annual progress report will include: • An update on progress against the targets and ambitions set out in the Strategy. • Commentary on contextual changes that might affect the exact pathway to meeting decarbonisation commitments – including those related to green choices. • A summary of key areas of progress made against this pathway and the policies and proposals in the Strategy. 2.3 The department wants to better understand the behavioural factors that need to be considered in the policies required to meet net zero. The Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Government Office for Science will be producing a scenario-based foresight report to understand the system-wide implications of these factors to be published in 2022. 2.4 The department has a published Monitoring & Evaluation Framework (M&E) that policies are expected to adhere to. Where relevant, these evaluations will provide insight into consumer take up and demand of BEIS policies. Examples include the evaluations of the Renewable Heat Incentive (interim report published online), the Green Homes Grant Vouchers evaluation (underway); the Energy Company Obligation evaluation (interim report published online) and the Domestic private rental sector minimum energy efficiency standards evaluation (interim report published online). The department will also work with other government departments to help ensure that they evaluate their carbon reduction policies in line with their department’s own M&E strategies/approaches.