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market is going _ alternatives to gas boilers. tue: market is going green, alternatives to gas boilers. tte: market is going green, and people know that we have the technological solutions to these problems, and they want to go green, and they know that we will be able one day to bring down the prices of green technology, evs and heat pumps and solar panels, in a way that we so rapidly made microwaves and mobile phones affordable. and they can see that we can do it, and when i was a kid, 80% of our energy came from coal. when i was mayor of london it was down to 40%. today, it is less than i%. and at the same time, we are turning this green industrial revolution into sustained economic growth, because we've cut c02 revolution into sustained economic growth, because we've cut co2 by 44% on 1990 levels in this country, and yet the uk economy has grown over that period by 78%. to adapt gordon gecko, who may or may not be a hero of anybody in this room, green is good, green is right, green works.
at tony blair institute for global change. thank you so much forjoining us. let's talk about the heat pumps, first of all. i spoke to caroline lucas, the green party mp earlier and she said putting one of these in and she said putting one of these in a home that is badly insulated is like using a teapot with cracks in it so i think we need to begin by talking about insulation and how well insulated is housing stock? t well insulated is housing stock? i think that's absolutely right. well insulated is housing stock? t think that's absolutely right. heat pumps can be a really effective way of heating your home but they rely on a degree to a well insulated home and that impacts costs. what we have seenin and that impacts costs. what we have seen in the last ten years as insulation rates have been pretty low in the uk and the housing stock wastes more energy than most of the rest of europe soak the strategy the government needs to put in place and we are talking about today is one that delivers improved energy efficiency and helps with the missions. and massively scale up the
the technological solutions to these problems, and they want to go green, and they know that we will be able one day to bring down the prices of green technology, evs and heat pumps and solar panels, in a way that we so rapidly made microwaves and mobile phones affordable. and they can see that we can do it, and when i was a kid, 80% of our energy came from coal. when i was mayor of london it was down to 40%. today, it is less than 1%. and at the same time, we are turning this green industrial revolution into sustained economic growth, because we've cut co2 by 44% on 1990 levels in this country, and yet the uk economy has grown over that period by 78%. to adapt gordon gekko, who may or may not be a hero of anybody in this room, green is good, green is right, green works. 0ur political correspondent
carbon wa . . , ._ , .,, ., ., ~' carbon way. in many ways as we look ahead to com, — carbon way. in many ways as we look ahead to come, the _ carbon way. in many ways as we look ahead to come, the un _ carbon way. in many ways as we look ahead to come, the un climate - ahead to cop26, the un climate summit, and look at the four key goals of the summit, arguably the most important one is mobilising the finance to make all of these transitions. do you think, notjust the uk government but other governments that you are looking at how credible plans and ways to finance plans for that transition to a low carbon future?— a low carbon future? you're absolutely _ a low carbon future? you're absolutely right, _ a low carbon future? you're absolutely right, finance . a low carbon future? you're absolutely right, finance is| a low carbon future? you're i absolutely right, finance is one a low carbon future? you're - absolutely right, finance is one of the big challenges so in the uk, the climate change committee, the government independent advisers say we need to mobilise at least one of the half trillion over the next 30 years to get a student at zero and i think what the prime minister talked about this morning is the state cannot and should not do that and i think that is right. the key thing ministers need to do through the net zero strategy they are publishing very shortly is how are we going to mobilise that investment and get the incentives right. for example the power sector, there are the right incentives in place for renewables, you have seen very rapid deployment
roll—out of low carbon heating. the roll-out of low carbon heating. the other side of— roll—out of low carbon heating. the other side of this is if those heat pumps can be powered by green electricity, powered by renewable energy, you really have green heating, don't you? how well—placed is the uk in terms of renewable energy? t is the uk in terms of renewable ener: ? ~' ,., is the uk in terms of renewable ener: ? ~ ,., ._ , energy? i think in some ways exceptionally _ energy? i think in some ways exceptionally well _ energy? i think in some ways exceptionally well placed. - energy? i think in some ways| exceptionally well placed. we energy? i think in some ways - exceptionally well placed. we have emissions down to about 70% from 1990, roughly have them in the last ten years so that shows how quickly change can happen but having said that we are asking our electricity system to do much more than we have in the past, laying a big role in home heating, heat pumps in particular, but also in terms of electric vehicles so what we need to see in the next ten years as a success of the last ten years in terms of renewables but accelerating over the next 10— 15 years, with nuclear and renewables and other zero carbon sources of power to make sure we can electrify our heating and transport and do that in a low carbon way. tit and transport and do that in a low carbon way-— and transport and do that in a low
and cuts in emissions and what we need to do is replicate that in parts of the economy. but also the really crucial thing is we do that in a fair way. this cannot be done on the back of the lowest income people in society and government has a crucial role to play and how it spreads those costs over time and across different parts of the economy and population. tim, really interestin: economy and population. tim, really interesting to — economy and population. tim, really interesting to speak _ economy and population. tim, really interesting to speak to _ economy and population. tim, really interesting to speak to you. - economy and population. tim, really interesting to speak to you. thank. interesting to speak to you. thank you. let's pick up on that point that was made. looking at your tweets which you have sent us. tony says he pumps and heating seem to be fuelled by money. people struggle to keep their homes let alone heat them. the poor will not be able to ride this bandwagon. gary is wondering aboutjobs. what about all the gas engineers who will be unemployed, or gas fitters? i don't know for a fact, gary, but i would imagine there would be a move to get
first, what it will do is to bring down prices much more quickly, as we have seen when it came to the tariff scheme for solar energy, for example, once you had people having quite generous solar tariffs in the feedback scheme, it brought the prices down, and we need to do the same here. my money is that by putting so little money in to prime the scheme, we won't see the benefits of the costs coming down fast enough. fiat benefits of the costs coming down fast enough-— benefits of the costs coming down fast enou:h. . n ., ., ., ,., fast enough. pat mcfadden for labour said to me earlier, _ fast enough. pat mcfadden for labour said to me earlier, there _ fast enough. pat mcfadden for labour said to me earlier, there is _ fast enough. pat mcfadden for labour said to me earlier, there is the - said to me earlier, there is the cost of acting, there is the cost of not acting. do you accept that the treasury has a really difficultjob, we are still in the pandemic, we're coming out of the pandemic, we hope, irreversibly, but do you accept the treasury has a difficultjob to try to balance the books? t treasury has a difficult “0b to try to balance the books?_ treasury has a difficult “0b to try to balance the books? i think the treasury is _ to balance the books? i think the treasury is missing _ to balance the books? i think the treasury is missing a _ to balance the books? i think the treasury is missing a trick- to balance the books? i think the treasury is missing a trick here l treasury is missing a trick here because we know that one of the government's priorities is the so—called levelling up agenda. i can't think of a better way of levelling up then making sure that we had hundreds of thousands ofjobs right across the country, in every
consequences of heat pumps is there? when we hear about getting heat from the air, air—conditioning units cause issues with global warming, so is there a potential side effect from heat pumps or is this the best way to go forward? t from heat pumps or is this the best way to go forward?— way to go forward? i think the government — way to go forward? i think the government has _ way to go forward? i think the government has described - way to go forward? i think the l government has described this, way to go forward? i think the - government has described this, and so has the committee on climate change as a no regrets option, so regardless of the other technologies that may not develop alongside this, hydrogen being one, he pumps have a no regret pathway to make some headway into this arena and i think in terms of potential problems, let's not forget most people hate their gas boilers. we hear of gas boilers breaking down all the time and no technology is full proof but he pumps have been deployed in many countries for decades now and from