More focus urged on proven solutions to cut emissions

Greater focus should be placed on proven solutions to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report.

The study by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research found that UK now uses less energy than almost anyone anticipated 20 years ago, but opportunities to act on this potential were largely missed

It said the energy demand mismatch reveals that early scenarios often focused on untested technologies while overlooking practical and proven ways to reduce energy use, such as improving public transport, insulating homes, and reducing air travel.

Optimism about new technologies also often overshadowed everyday solutions, potentially limiting the scope of decarbonisation that was deemed possible by policymakers and researchers.

Professor Alice Larkin, co-author of the report, said: “Climate change is accelerating and already impacting on people’s everyday lives, yet our ambition has been failing to meet the scale of the challenge. With time running out, we need to better understand how to reconfigure existing technologies and behaviours, so we can transition more rapidly to a low-energy, low-carbon society.”