Net Zero Strategy will fail to deliver COP26 pledges
The Minus 45 Report was published on 21 October 2021 by UK FIRES, an academic group from six major UK universities funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council ("EPSRC"). This follows on from the Absolute Zero Report published by UK FIRES in 2019.
The Minus 45 Report, like the Absolute Zero report, is firmly rooted in science but is also governed by a practical approach to incremental change and the need of all of us to address the need to approach the challenge of achieving Net Zero together as a society, based on technologies that are available now.
Key quotes from the report:
- Net Zero Strategy will deliver only small fraction of UK commitment to COP26
- Net Zero Strategy talks about big ambitions but makes small commitments
- Net Zero Strategy places all climate hope on new technology
- Net Zero Strategy mentions hydrogen 501 times in 368 pages, but UK today has no emissions free hydrogen production.
We recommend that you read the clearly laid out 23 page Minus 45 Report.
Space and Water Heating
The Minus 45 Report covers six key areas: Electricity generation, Manufacturing, Transport, Heating, Agriculture and Waste.
On Space and Water Heating the report says:
"Heat pumps are essential to decarbonise heating as they run off electricity and are very efficient.
However, the government's current commitment is insufficient and should be increased to over 1 million heat pumps installed annually by 2028.
From 2028 onwards no new gas boilers should be installed in the UK.
The combination of these two actions would save approximately 11Mt CO2 by 2030. This figure is still far below the government's commitment to Minus 45 so further measures are required."