SERG’s Dr Ben Anderson has just submitted a response to The Climate Change Commission’s ‘The Sixth Carbon Budget and Welsh emissions targets – Call for Evidence‘. Ben’s comments focused on:

  1. Question 8.What evidence do you have of the co-benefits of acting on climate change compatible with achieving Net Zero by 2050? What do these co-benefits mean for which emissions abatement options should be prioritised and why?
  2. Question 26 (Buildings): For the majority of the housing stock in the CCC’s Net Zero Further Ambition scenario, 2050 is assumed to be a realistic timeframe for full roll-out of energy efficiency and low-carbon heating:
    1. What evidence can you point to about the potential for decarbonising heat in buildings more quickly?
    2. What evidence do you have about the role behaviour change could play in driving forward more extensive decarbonisation of the building stock more quickly? What are the costs/levels of abatement that might be associated with a behaviour-led transition?
  3. Question 30 Power: In Chapter 2 of the Net Zero Technical Report we presented an illustrative power scenario for 2050 (see pages 40-41 in particular):
    1. What evidence do you have for how much demand side flexibility might be realised?
  4. Question 37: Infrastructure: What will be the key factors that will determine whether decarbonisation of heat in a particular area will require investment in the electricity distribution network, the gas distribution network or a heat network?

Ben’s comments summarised SERG’s work on the co-benefits of energy efficient building stock retrofits for energy demand/GHG reduction and improved wellbeing;  the flexibility of electricity demand, energy use habits and its insights for understanding (and thus manipulating) electricity demand in households. He also drew on his recent MSCA Global Fellowship research at the University of Otago, including his knowledge of the New Zealand building stock and energy markets.