Introduction by Jade Lewis, Chief Execuive

At the Sustainable Energy Association, we have made it our mission to work side by side with our members to ensure that buildings are energy efficient, net zero carbon, warm and healthy.

Brought about by the urgent need for action on climate change, Net Zero is now one of the most talked about topics, with last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow shining a spotlight on the UK.

As a result, we have been inundated with myriad new government policies, not least the longawaited Heat and Buildings strategy, and endless consultations on energy and buildings. By keeping abreast of the changes, we have continued to support our members throughout the year by providing you with regular updates and summaries of the hundreds of pages of published documentation, responding to the many consultations on your behalf and bringing the key stakeholders who are creating the policies into our working group meetings to enable your views to be heard directly.

We remain at the forefront of government policy development and are regularly approached by officials for our opinions and collective expertise from across the membership. This year we worked in collaboration with the Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in the development of the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) scheme and published our latest thought leadership paper on designing an effective scheme for tackling fuel poverty and decarbonising homes.

It has been yet another difficult year for everyone. The continued disruption brought about by Covid-19 has meant we have continued to work mainly virtually and have had to postpone our annual parliamentary reception. Despite the challenges, I am really pleased to see the progress we have made against delivering our vision and increasing our level of influence.

This report seeks to demonstrate the impact the SEA has had throughout 2021, outline some of the highlights and demonstrate the value brought to members as a result.