Local Government and the Path to Net Zero: Call for Evidence (2021)

The IET welcomes the opportunity to comment on a call for evidence from The Housing Communities and Local Government Committee on ‘Local government and the path to net zero’.  The IET’s main observations are detailed below.

It is essential that when establishing legislation for the energy efficiency of new homes we consider the impact of technology change, major projects and emerging trends on longer time scales beyond the end of life of the engineered product. It is vital that resilience and adaptation are built-in to be agile to the increasing complexity of our energy, built environment and transport systems.

We have established links to Local Authorities across the UK and regularly carry out workshops involving industry specialists and Local Authority representatives. This is to ensure that current good engineering practices and knowledge is included into Local Authority decision making and planning.

The energy performance gap is fundamentally driven by too high design allowances and poor occupation profiling. Now the change in non-domestic (office) operations will also become a fundamental calculation consideration.

The IET have previously published a local authority guide to emerging transport technology. Our Codes and Guidance team is currently working with the Department for Transport and the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles (OZEV) to develop guidance for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure for Local Authorities.

The IET believe that the proposals should go further, and it is essential that local government must be supported with good engineering practices and knowledge to achieve “net zero”. Systems thinking and broad stakeholder engagement are key to ensuring success.