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<p>The Clean Growth Strategy sets out our ambition to enable business consumers to
reduce their energy usage by improving energy efficiency by at least 20% by 2030,
potentially reducing carbon emissions by 22MtCO<sub>2</sub>e over the fifth Carbon
Budget.</p><p> </p><p>At Budget, in November 2018, we announced up to £315M for an
Industrial Energy Transformation Fund to support businesses with high energy use to
invest in energy efficiency and decarbonisation measures. We also announced we would
publish a call for evidence in 2019 on introducing a new Business Energy Efficiency
Scheme, focused on smaller businesses.</p><p> </p><p>We have introduced a more streamlined
energy and carbon reporting framework to help businesses to reduce their carbon emissions
and associated energy costs, which will come into force on 1 April this year. Under
the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS), all large businesses are required to
audit the energy used by their buildings, industrial processes and transport to identify
cost-effective energy saving measures. We are undertaking a comprehensive assessment
of the impact and effectiveness of ESOS and will consider future reforms when the
current phase ends in December 2019.</p><p> </p><p>The Climate Change Agreements Scheme
incentivises a wide range of industrial sectors to reduce energy use and carbon dioxide
emissions in return for a significant discount on the Climate Change Levy. And we
have recently launched a new £18 million Industrial Heat Recovery Support Programme
that supports the recovery and re-use of waste heat from industrial processes, and
committed £8.8 million to promote innovative approaches to energy management using
smart meters.</p><p> </p><p>We are taking steps to build capacity and capability in
the energy services market including through a £5.6 million competition to encourage
innovation in aggregating and scaling up smaller energy saving projects across commercial
and industrial buildings.</p><p> </p><p>We are also working to ensure that those who
lease premises to businesses continue to refurbish and improve the performance of
their buildings. This included bringing new regulations into force in April last year
which set a minimum energy efficiency standard for non-domestic rented buildings.
On current plans, we will consult on proposals to go further in 2019. In parallel,
we are clear that all new commercial and industrial buildings should be more energy
efficient and are planning to review Part L of the Building Regulations in 2019.</p>
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