Independent climate advisors to the UK government are criticizing the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, over her preferred solution to the high cost of energy in the country. Liz Truss proposes to increase the local production of gas in order to reduce the price. Advisors are saying her policies should rather focus on how to cut demand.
Increasing Gas Production
Liz Truss has prioritized a number of other measures to deal holistically with the cost of energy from her first moment in office. The PM will reveal a cap on the price of energy that will fix the expenditure of households on energy at £2,500 per annum.
The PM equally gave signs that she will push for higher oil and gas extraction in the North Sea. There will also be an accelerated licensing process for oil and gas locations in the North Sea so gas production can be increased.
But the new Prime Minister got notes from environmentalists saying that increasing production is not a solution to the UK’s energy situation. The environmentalists, Sir John Armitt and Lord Deben said in their note that the country can’t fix the problem by simply increasing its natural gas production.
They said that increased production might help secure energy for the people, especially in winter. However, the country has a small reserve of gas, and it might not have a meaningful impact on the price of the commodity.
Cut Energy Demands
Sir John Armitt is the Chairman of the National Infrastructures Commission while Lord Deben chairs the Committee on Climate Change. Their letter to Liz Truss is the first time the heads of the independent bodies will jointly write to a British PM.
Their letter advised the PM, as well as her cabinet, to put their attention on cutting the demand for energy from businesses and households. This will require the government to have policies like insulating every house and asking all government agencies to make sure their buildings are energy efficient. Other measures will be to establish energy advisory offices for users and to increase renewable energy such as solar and wind.
So far, Liz Truss has not mentioned much on how she would address insulation in homes. The UK scrapped the home grants in 2021, therefore, there is no insulation program in place for average households. She promised to do away with green taxes and it includes those that pay to have their homes insulated.