Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of levels of energy efficiency in (a) new and (b) existing commercial buildings.

BEIS published the Building Energy Efficiency Survey (BEES) in 2016 which updated and improved the evidence on how energy was used in non-domestic premises across England and Wales. It found that there was 63,160 GWh/year (or 14,750 ktCO2e/year) total energy efficiency abatement potential, representing a 39 per cent reduction from current energy consumption.

This assessment informed our approach to energy efficiency in the Clean Growth Strategy (CGS) that set out our ambition to enable business and industry to improve energy efficiency by at least 20% by 2030. Improvements in building energy efficiency are expected to make a significant contribution to this, and the CGS includes commitments to enable businesses to improve energy efficiency in new and existing commercial buildings.