The future of energy and landscape: key takeaways from CPRE’s expert panel event

“How can we meet energy needs while protecting landscapes and delivering nature’s recovery” was the arresting title of an event co-hosted by CPRE and the Wildlife Trusts at Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking, Stroud, on Tuesday 25th March.

How can our energy needs fit with our need to look after nature and the environment in the context of climate change? This is a question that CPRE is constantly grappling with. And it is the question that was posed to the event panel which was chaired by Craig Bennett, CEO of the Wildlife Trusts with Roger Mortlock, CEO of National CPRE, Emma Pinchbeck, CEO of the Government’s Climate Change Committee and Juliet Davenport, energy expert and founder of the Good Energy company.

We all need energy; for cooking, heating our homes, running our appliances and our cars. But, as we know, our energy consumption is one of the biggest sources of global warming and hence, climate change. How to reconcile these challenges is not easy. But it is urgent. And Government knows it must act now.

Whilst we learned about the rapid growth of green energy, now over 50% of domestic supply, we also heard that further growth will need to be at scale and require us to accept generally unwelcome infrastructure like pylons and ground-mounted solar farms. Households too, need to move rapidly away from gas boilers in favour of heat-pumps with better home-insulation and smart meters being key to progress too. Clearly there are some relatively quick wins that will come to all of us with the rapid growth of clean energy, not least cheaper fuel bills.

With a wide range of local experts in attendance including environmentalists, local government organisations and business, it was good to see an emerging consensus that the key to reconciling these various pressures on our land is working with the community and local people. When we understand the pressures and the possible solutions, it seems it is much easier to find acceptance. We will see…