The National Infrastructure Commission and the Institution of Civil Engineers have both welcomed the Climate Change Committee’s Seventh Carbon Budget report published today.

According to the NIC, the CCC’s advice to government aligns closely with recommendations on the electrification of heating and transport which the Commission made in its own recommendations to government in the second National Infrastructure Assessment.

Commenting in response, Sir John Armitt, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, said:

“The CCC is right to say that the path ahead is clear. The future is electrified and government needs to get on and deliver it. As our second National Infrastructure Assessment showed, electric vehicles and heat pumps will decarbonise the economy, lower bills and deliver greater energy security.

“But for this to happen, government must now put in the hard yards and enable the transition. Making electricity cheaper relative to gas is essential to enabling the switch to heat pumps – that should be its top priority. And there needs to be sustained financial and non-financial support to help households make the switch, especially for those on lower incomes.”

In its second National Infrastructure Assessment published in October 2023, the Commission’s recommendations to government on decarbonising energy and reaching net zero included:

• Government should not support the roll out of hydrogen heating
• Support for 7 million buildings in England to switch to a heat pump or heat network by 2035 through providing £7,000 of subsidy per property to install a heat pump, along with zero per cent financing to up front installation costs above the subsidy
• Government should commit to long term funding to deliver low carbon heat in the public sector estate and in the social housing sector, with additional support for families on lower incomes to make the switch.
• Taking policy costs off electricity bills and ensuring the cost of running a heat pump is lower that the cost of running a fossil fuel boiler
• Government should accelerate the deployment of electric vehicle charge points to reach the 2030 target of 300,000 installations, to ensure these keeps pace with EV car sales.

The Institution of Civil Engineers has welcomed the CCC’s seventh carbon budget as a 'good news story' for infrastructure.

Sam Gould, director of policy and external affairs at the Institution of Civil Engineers said:

“Today, the Climate Change Committee has published how it believes the UK government can meet its seventh carbon budget. There is a good news story here; the advice from the CCC echoes what the Institution of Civil Engineers and many voices in the infrastructure sector have been saying - growth and reaching net zero is not an either/or choice. They're two sides of the same coin.

“Decarbonisation is the end goal, but along the way there's opportunity to create jobs and establish new markets. There are also bonus benefits like cleaner air, and improved biodiversity. The CCC makes several clear recommendations to government about what it needs to do to deliver the next carbon budget, and its recommendations tally with what the ICE has recently published on how the government can attract private finance to improve the UK's water, energy, and transport systems.

“The private sector has delivered rapid transition before, and it can do so again. If the government creates a stable policy environment and provides certainty for industry and investors, there is no reason why this carbon budget and the UK's wider environmental objectives can't be met, while sparking economic growth as well.”