2020 renewable heat target missed by Scottish Government

Patrick Harvie

Newly published figures have shown that the figure is just 6.4%.

Having laid the report in Parliament this week, minister for zero carbon buildings, active travel and tenants’ rights Patrick Harvie said: “Renewable heat generated in Scotland in 2020 was equivalent to 6.4% of non-electrical fuels consumed for heat. This represents a slight decrease in useful renewable heat generated since 2019. This reduction in renewable heat was largely due to reduced output from large biomass systems at industrial sites, and should be seen in the context of a difficult year for the Scottish economy due to the pandemic.

“Reaching 6.4% renewable heat means we missed the 11% target, and is clearly disappointing. Deployment of renewable heat has seen challenges over the past decade. For example, the delay in introducing tariff guarantees for the Renewable Heat Incentive resulted in uncertainties for businesses in Scotland and delays to investment in new capacity. Challenges to deployment have been accompanied by outturn data on higher than anticipated demand that indicate that around a third more non-electrical fuel is consumed for heat than had been anticipated in 2009.

“Beneath the headline statistic, we see continued growth in the deployment of building-level renewable heat systems, particularly heat pumps. The Heat in Buildings Strategy, published earlier this month, makes clear we must accelerate deployment of zero emissions heat technologies so that by 2030 over 1 million homes and the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic buildings are converted to zero emissions heat.

“The Heat in Buildings Strategy sets out an ambitious policy package to achieve this, including our commitment to invest at least £1.8 billion over the course of this parliament to help kick-start growth in the market and support those least able to pay; our intention to bring forward legislation, subject to consultation and to limits on devolved competence, that provides the regulatory framework for zero emissions heating and energy efficiency; and actions to expand our work with the supply chain to create new investment opportunities and create and support high value, local jobs.

“We are maximising effort in devolved areas, but there are limits to what we can achieve on our own and critical policy areas remain reserved to the UK Government. While the UK’s new Heat and Buildings Strategy includes measures which will complement the comprehensive support package already available in Scotland the overall plan for action does not go far or fast enough. We will continue to work with the UK Government as it implements its strategy and call on it to accelerate action to support and enable delivery in Scotland, such as reforming the energy markets and amending the Gas Act.”

Helen Melone, senior policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said: “We are disappointed to see the figures that show that Scotland has not made any progress on decarbonising the way it keeps warm and did not meet its 2020 target of 11% of heat to be delivered by renewables.

“Decarbonising Scotland’s heat is critical to help meet our climate change targets. Today’s failure does not bode well for Scotland’s new renewable heat target of 22% of non-electrical heat in buildings to be directly supplied by renewable sources by 2030.

“With the COP26 - UN Climate Change Conference taking place next week in Glasgow, these figures show that much more ambition and action is needed to make progress towards net-zero. We need to see increased growth in the installation of heat pumps and a concerted effort made to incentivise individuals and businesses to take up low-carbon heating solutions.”

Holly O’Donnell, climate & energy manager at WWF Scotland, added: “It’s disappointing to see this target missed, given how urgent it is that we move away from fossil fuel heating to reduce Scotland’s climate emissions. The pandemic will have disrupted progress in 2020 but even before this, the roll-out of energy efficiency, heat pumps and heat networks was too slow.

“The recent rise in gas prices is an urgent reminder that the move to renewables isn’t just good for the climate, it can protect us against volatile fuel prices and create new green jobs. We need to see stronger regulation and incentives from the Scottish Government if it’s to meet its target of switching a million homes to renewable heating by 2030.”