It feels like only yesterday we were talking about COP28, so we were a little taken aback in the office when we worked out that COP29 is less than four months away. Taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11th – 22nd November 2024, we hope that with all that’s going on both at home and abroad, we’ll all still be talking about positive moves made by this important conference once again this year.
A reminder: what came out of COP28?
Held in Dubai, over 150 Heads of State and Government attended. This was the year that the first roundup of the world’s combined efforts to tackle climate change was collated, and it wasn’t great reading. It showed simply that there’s not enough progress being made. Countries decided together that actions needed to be fast-tracked, particularly by reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing the use of renewables.
So how is the UK progressing in the rollout of renewables?
While the increased focus on renewables may be new to many, we know from our 15 years’ work in the construction sector that many, many manufacturers have been producing, training and promoting renewables for years now – the industry has the products. Yet it’s taken COP28 to bring this to the fore.
One particular product under the renewables umbrella that we know a lot about here at Refresh are heat pumps, but frankly it’s a frustrating picture. We currently have 11,000 trained heat pump installers in the UK, according to the Heat Pump Association (of which 8,000 were trained in the past year). Yet the Government has set a target of installing 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028 – that’s 11 times as many as were installed in 2022. Keep in mind not all properties can have, or are allowed to have one, too.
We simply don’t have enough professionally trained installers to deliver these numbers, and we know that the majority of the problems and the bad press around heat pumps stem from inexperienced/unqualified fitters making mistakes at the installation stage. This means it’s hard to imagine a world where we’ll be anywhere near the target by the deadline.
Our client The CIPHE is moving mountains to push training forward, and so are many of the manufacturers themselves; our client Samsung Climate Solutions is just one of many with training centres kitted out to get installers trained.
The installers who enter our Heating Installer Awards each year are keen to get trained up too, we know this, but it takes time – time off the road when they aren’t earning, but also time to get onto an available course that suits the work diary too. But the important thing is that they are willing.
So how can we get the industry moving? One of the first moves is to ensure consumers are fully up to speed with renewables; there’s a lot of misinformation out there. The CIPHE has unbiased information, straight from the industry trade association, which can be accessed to help a homeowner make up their own mind without the viewpoint of their regular newspaper.
Unfortunately, without it being a burning (no pun intended) election issue, there’s little tempting the politicians to get a fast-tracked course of action on their radar in the imminent future either. But, if they did, what a change it would make!
So if that was COP28, what will we see at COP29?
The message at COP29 will pivot away from renewables targets. COP29 is currently focusing more on the way in which we can all help to create a more resilient and equitable world. A key aim is to secure financial assistance from the world’s wealthier countries, in order to put financial support where it is most required. This new climate finance goal will, organisers hope, go a little way to levelling the playing field, helping developing nations with energy transition and adaption to renewables. It’s a logical next step – we all share the same air on the same planet so we need everyone working hard – but in a world where countries are struggling to see eye-to-eye on many issues, how feasible is this?
It’s a similar story back home too – more investment is needed in training, education and also in support for the manufacturers. Fingers crossed any new Government will keep the heat pump grants, which go some way to helping willing homeowners to install renewables. If so, the race is on to get installers trained up, and fast, to make a dint into those hefty targets. Watch this space!