Government appoints NatWest boss as energy efficiency taskforce co-chair

The government has revealed more details about its industry taskforce for reducing energy consumption and named NatWest boss Alison Rose as its co-chair.

Plans for an energy efficiency taskforce were announced by chancellor Jeremy Hunt in last year’s Autumn Statement. 

The group, which will meet for the first time next month, will advise ministers on how to achieve a target of reducing the UK’s domestic, commercial and industrial energy demand by 15% compared to 2021 levels by 2030.

It will include members from a range of sectors along with people from academia, business and local government and report to Grant Shapps, secretary of state at the newly created Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

Rose, who has been in charge of NatWest Group since 2019, will lead the team alongside Martin Callanan, a peer who was appointed a minister at DESNZ earlier this month in Rishi Sunak’s shake-up of government departments.

>> Also read: Why everyone’s getting excited about the new energy efficiency taskforce

Callanan will lead on securing cross-government support and ensuring departments are on board with policy, while Rose will lead external engagement with industry and business.

The initial meeting of the taskforce will review terms of reference and discuss initial priorities, the government said in a statement.

Objectives will include reducing skills gaps, accelerating pathways to accreditation for installers of energy efficiency kit and tackling installation challenges.

These issues have been blamed as a factor in the failure of several previous government schemes for improving energy efficiency, including the Green Homes Grant which was scrapped in March last year less than a year after it launched.

Other objectives include stimulating supply chains to increase investment in energy efficiency technologies, improving manufacturer capabilities, identifying regulatory barriers and working with the private sector to increase the availability of green finance.

DESNZ also wants to increase consumer engagement in new and existing initiatives for improving energy efficiency, including “addressing the lack of consumer take-up or behavioural change and high attrition rates”.

The co-chairs will be joined by a steering group of experts which the department said would be appointed in due course, along with government officials from a range of departments and contributors from outside the taskforce

In future meetings, individual workstreams will be led by members from the taskforce, with members reporting back progress, initial findings and recommendations to the taskforce with input from wider delivery and policy teams, DESNZ said.

Industry experts have hailed the creation of the taskforce as a possible vehicle for overcoming some of the issues that have dogged previous government energy efficiency schemes. 

Mace chief of staff Hannah Vickers said well informed industry advice could “catalyse demand” in the owner occupier sector for energy saving upgrades like heat pumps and insulation by helping people understand the benefits of having their property retrofitted.

UKGBC head of policy and public affairs Louise Hutchins has also said it could allow ministers to get to grips with a strategy that has a significant impact on energy consumption.

The £1.5bn Green Homes Grant was shut down after less than 10% of the allocated funding had been spent, a failure caused partly because ministers had not ensured there were enough trained installers who could do the work.