Energy industry trade body chief to head UK’s climate watchdog | Climate Change Committee

The government’s official climate watchdog has appointed the head of the energy industry’s trade association to lead its work helping to drive the UK’s emissions to net zero by 2050.

Emma Pinchbeck, the head of Energy UK, will take up the role of chief executive of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) from early next month after four years at the helm of the trade association.

The former deputy of RenewableUK will replace Chris Stark, who was appointed to lead the government’s “mission control centre” on clean energy, a Covid vaccine-style taskforce aimed at delivering clean and cheaper power by 2030.

Pinchbeck was tapped for the role earlier this year and told the Guardian in August that “change can be quite frightening” for rural communities likely to host renewable energy infrastructure.

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said Pinchbeck would join the CCC at “a pivotal point” in the UK’s journey to net zero, halfway through a “decisive decade to halt climate change”.

“Following her leadership at Energy UK, [Pinchbeck] is well placed to advise and challenge government on our net zero goals – ensuring we meet our climate commitments with ambition and urgency,” Miliband said.

He added that Pinchbeck’s “extensive experience” leading the decarbonisation of the energy industry underscores “how the economics of clean energy are now aligned with climate policy, driving both environmental protection and economic growth”.

Pinchbeck was appointed Energy UK’s chief executive in January 2020 months before the Covid-19 pandemic led to record low energy market prices that wiped billions from the market value of major energy companies. The sharp bounceback in energy prices in 2021 caused more than 30 energy suppliers to go bust. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 pushed up energy prices across Europe further and forced the UK government to step in to subsidise bills.

Pinchbeck said: “Energy has moved from the fringes to the very centre of economic policy and I hope that I have played my part in making sure that the importance of our sector and of the energy transition is clear to government.

“I am excited to bring my experience and knowledge of a decade in energy to the challenge of decarbonising our economy at speed with tangible benefits to the people of the UK.”