Expert panel discusses priorities for heat decarbonisation

BEIS Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Climate Change, Lord Callanan, joined an expert panel to discuss the beginning of the journey to zero emissions that the heating industry and its customers are about to begin.

Hosted by Karen Boswell OBE, MD of Baxi Heating, the panel also included Emma Pinchbeck, CEO of Energy UK, Ian Rippin, CEO of Microgeneration Certificate Scheme and Mike Thornton, CEO of Energy Saving Trust, as well as Lord Callanan. They explored the imminent need to begin decarbonising heating with current low carbon technologies, while future technologies and solutions are developed.

The panellists highlighted that, although there are known technologies and solutions that will help in this process, there are still challenges. This includes upskilling heating engineers to be able to install new low-carbon heating and hot water technologies. Although the mix of low carbon technologies and its implementation has much further to go panellists agreed it was critical to deliver clear-cut solutions to meet the energy needs for the wide variety of buildings in the UK. To be successful, it was emphasised that now is the time for action in order to deliver a sustainable future for generations to come.