Ministers risk losing business and consumer confidence for the second time in a year if they fail to heed warnings over the Government’s ‘undercooked’ Green Deal.
David Hunt, director of Liverpool-based Eco-Evironments, says that Green Deal policy has variously been described to him by senior figures in the industry as a ‘dog’s dinner’, ‘car crash’ and ‘farce.’
Hunt, told a recent Energy Solutions summit : “The Green Deal was never intended as a driver for renewable technologies, that is the role of feed-in-tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive.
“Energy efficiency is critical for homes, businesses and UK PLC to reduce its carbon footprint and use less energy. The Green Deal should be the ideal opportunity to support and address this issue.
“But we are facing a very undercooked policy becoming live and a Government that is not listening.
“The big problem is that this could be a massive economic wasted opportunity. It could spook investors away from engaging with other essential renewable and energy efficiency projects.”
Hunt referred to the court defeats suffered by the Government in the past year over the reduction in feed-in-tariff levels available to homeowners and businesses keen to go ahead with solar PV installations.
He says: “It is not so much the tariff levels that have had such negative impacts but more the uncertainty caused among investors, from infrastructure scale to commercial and even domestic-sized projects. The battle between DECC, who have learnt lessons from the past, and the Treasury is making everyone uneasy.”
“We need a Government that’s listening to the industry and we need to a Treasury that’s seeing the growth opportunities the CBI sees.”
The CBI’s report – The colour of growth: maximising the potential of green business” published last July forecast that a “smarter green policy approach could boost the UK’s economy by almost £20bn by 2014/15.”
The report goes on to predict that without green businesses, the trade deficit in 2014/15 would be “double Government projections.”
Hunt concludes: “Only then will we see the Renewable Revolution needed in the UK. It is already happening elsewhere the world over and we’re losing ground – and facing blackouts!”
More information: www.eco-environments.co.uk