Mr. Owen Wilson:

Regarding the question on the lack of cohesion, that most critically applies in regard to the interaction of climate and energy efficiency policies. The roadmaps and the NESC report both highlight that using what is effectively decarbonised electricity to supplant fossil fuel use in the heating and transport sectors is critical to a cost-effective delivery of the 2050 objectives. While energy use reduction will play a major role in that also, the current concept of energy efficiency based on the 1970s concern about primary energy use is inadequate today in its general approach. There is an assumed energy loss in electricity production of some 60% and when that is applied across the board, effectively it excludes electricity from the heating and transport sectors, but particularly the heating sector.

What we have today under energy efficiency obligations is to replace electricity with fossil fuels whereas the critical objective in the longer term is to do the exact opposite. Unless we redefine energy efficiency so that it no longer equates a kilowatt hour of wind with a kilowatt hour of coal but takes into account the carbon content of the energy source, we will have this continued difficulty. As I said, because we are first to hit the barriers in terms of the decarbonisation of transport and electricity and the electrification of those two sectors, we come up against this problem first. Again, in the context of a European framework, we are the ones in the first instance who will have to promote this at a European level.