Thérèse Coffey has faced criticism for what she has written in a letter, highlighting her views on the ambitions and achievements of her party.
In her letter, she describes the Energy Company Obligation Plus (ECO+) scheme and highlights some of the work it has achieved.
The ECO+ scheme is a grant targeted at homes with a low energy efficiency rating in lower Council Tax band areas.
However, in response to her claims, sustainability group, Friends of the Earth, Sheffield said: “The current government is not acting with anything like the required urgency to combat the climate and nature crisis.”
In Coffey’s letter, she said: “Over 3.1 million home improvements have been made through the ECO Scheme since 2013 and the ECO+ is set to increase the total amount of insulation and other improvements across the country.”
Coffey went on to highlight some of the efforts made by the Conservative party to help reach a “nationwide carbon net zero by 2050”.
She said: “Each household is expected to benefit from £1,500 of spending on improving energy efficiency measures.
“Currently, only 42 per cent of homes in England are rated Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C or higher, making this new scheme an essential step to ensure energy independence.”
Her launch of the Environmental Improvement Plan was highlighted in her letter, designed to restore National Parks, clean up the country’s rivers and plant more trees.
Despite Coffey’s ambitious plans, she has been heavily criticised in a statement released by the environmental group.
“While they can point to isolated pockets of practice, such as some additional funding for insulation of homes, the spending on this is tiny in relation to the scale of the issues at hand and the required funding for the necessary skill development is non-existent.
“Spending on energy supply remains fixated on supporting fossil fuel development when renewable electricity is four to five times cheaper, insufficient investment is being made in alternative forms of energy generation such as tidal and battery capacity development is also under-funded while the false solution of hydrogen as a replacement fuel is being advocated.
“The targets set by the government are nowhere near being met and we are not on course to do so. Fine words may be being uttered but much more needs to done with much more energy, urgency and vigour.”
Tim Farron, former leader of the Liberal Democrats and shadow Environmental Secretary, echoed the sustainability group’s criticism.
He said: “We have known for some time that the Conservative Government have no intention of helping people with the energy crisis.
“They have shown time and time again that they are completely out of touch.
“Whilst Rishi Sunak is upgrading the electricity grid to heat his personal pool people are choosing whether or not to feed their children or heat their homes.
“The Liberal Democrats want to tackle this crisis head on which is why we have passed new policy this weekend at our Spring Conference to do so.
“The Conservatives decision to continually underinvest into renewable energy and insulating our homes has directly led to the crisis. We plan to change that.
“Under our plans we will boost our investment into renewables, remove the restrictions the Government have placed on new schemes, and give local authorities the power to build renewable energy sources to serve communities.
“Not only will we cut energy bills back to the levels they were in April 2021 but we will also build a social tariff to care for the most vulnerable within our society whilst working to insulate all UK homes by 2030. The effects of this will be enormous and cut our emissions and fuel bills.
“The Liberal Democrats want to solve the energy crisis by building a sustainable future for this country, which is fair to everyone.”
Despite the ambitious climate goals across the political spectrum, it is clear to see that there is heated debate and considerable discourse over the UK’s environmental future.
Thérèse Coffey’s full constituency letter can be viewed below:
