Views
The energy experts speak out
Leading the way with climate action
Author: Tracy Lewis, Managing Director Welcome back from the festive break! The Environmental Bill was back on the political agenda last month. The Queen during the State Opening of Parliament told MPs and Lords that environmental principles and targets were to be...
Is the UK Government’s commitment to enshrine environmental principles into law enough?
Author: Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director On Monday, 14 October 2019 the UK Government announced its plans, during the Queen’s Speech, for the long overdue Environment Bill. The Queen stated that the bill, published the following day, will enshrine principles...
Water market deregulation yet to deliver an improved customer service
Author: Joanne Merry, Technical Director The water market de-regulated in England on 1st April 2017 to remove barriers to competition and deliver a resilient water supply network. It followed in the footsteps of Scotland, which became the first country in the world...
Brexit: Boris demands new concessions from the EU
Author: Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director Boris Johnson has requested that the EU reworks the terms of the UK’s future relationship with the union to allow Britain to significantly diverge from European rules after Brexit. Theresa May had committed to a level...
Net-zero target: Compliance or complacence?
Author: Lisa Turner, Head of Marketing There has been much in the press around net-zero since the government announced its intention to become the first G7 country to legislate a zero emissions target. As one of the biggest contributors of carbon emissions, this...
May sets out her vision ahead of upcoming Brexit negotiations
Author: Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director Speaking in London today, the Prime Minister, Theresa May, called for a wide-ranging free trade deal with the EU after Brexit. The speech was delivered ahead of the start of negotiations on the UK’s future partnership...
New Energy Legislation – Are You Prepared For 1st April 2018?
Author: Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director On 1st April 2018, there are important energy industry changes coming into effect. With only a few weeks to go, if you have not already taken action, now is the time. The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) is a...
The 25 Year Environment Plan: Too Long to Deliver What is Needed Now!
Author: Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director The Prime Minister has finally revealed the UK's 25 Year Environment Plan following months of anticipation and speculation. Whilst it has received its fair share of criticism there are positive messages in it – in...
2017 Environmental Policy Review: Clean Growth for 2018 and Beyond
Author: Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director 2017 was a year of surprises on many fronts and environmental policy certainly followed suit. There have been significant developments on the green policy landscape, for both the UK and the world, which presents a very...
COP23: Key outcomes in Bonn 2017 – By Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director
The extreme weather events that made headlines around the world certainly gave the annual event a sense of relevance and urgency, but cleaning up, as we all know, is an unglamorous process. Behind the scenes, the work got done, however, and, once one task was...
Budget 2017: War on plastic and diesel but apathy for renewables – By Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director
The government chose to focus its attention on plastics and diesel vehicles in the Autumn Budget yesterday. Whilst the Chancellor promised more funds to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles, higher duty for diesel cars as well as measures to tackle the scourge...
Significant threat from delays in reform to renewable heat incentive – By Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director
The latest announcement of more delays to the reform of UK renewable heat policy have been condemned as a significant threat to the country’s long-term climate ambitions. The UK has faced numerous warnings that it will miss its 2020 renewable heat target unless major...
Mainstreaming energy efficiency: BEIS consults on carbon reporting through company accounts – By Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has finally launched the consultation on Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting. Since the announcement in March 2016 that the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) would be scrapped in 2019 and an...
New measures to drive investment in clean growth and greater climate change reporting – By Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director
The UK government has announced new measures to accelerate investment in clean growth with a Green Finance Taskforce. The transition to a low carbon economy needs a multi-billion pound investment and is a key element of the government’s industrial strategy. It asserts...
Tackling construction pollution: Statistics support the need for bold action – By Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has written to Defra to ask the Government for greater powers to tackle construction pollution, as industry experts call for urgent action to improve the state of sustainability in the UK built environment. With half of the capital’s...
Energy soon-to-be a boardroom priority – By Arthur Beattie, Commercial Director
Since the markets experienced full deregulation in the early nineties, we have witnessed periods of extreme pricing volatility, followed by long periods of stability. During that time, energy management as an agenda item has been in and out of the boardroom more times...
General Election 2017: Effective Policies to Tackle Climate Change or Just Hot Air? – By Melanie Kendall-Reid, Compliance Director
It is decision time! The General Election will take place tomorrow, Thursday 8th June 2017. In Theresa May’s speech announcing this, she referred to the “political game-playing” of other parties in Parliament and the House of Lords, which was causing...
Sub Metering: A risky afterthought during development projects – By Joanne Merry, Technical Director
Sub metering is often considered to be a relatively small part of a multi-let new build / re-development project. As a result, it is usually addressed at a later stage as part of the wider electrical and mechanical systems and is not given the attention it deserves....
Mastering EPCs to Protect Investment Yield – By Joanne Merry, Technical Director
It seems that today there is an art to the production of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to ensure that companies attain the best possible score. Gone are the days of just ticking the compliance box in order to secure a sale or letting. The introduction of the...
‘Energy Independent’ America to Trump Paris? – By Arthur Beattie, Commercial Director
Bleary eyed and stunned, I sit and contemplate the result of the US presidential election. Rhetoric of the day before, ringing in my ears – ‘the path to the White House is simply too difficult for Trump to navigate’. I haven’t been so incorrect in forecasting the...
