Martin Breheney

Martin Breheney, Senior Analyst, NIMMS

Renewable Focus

With 2020 being dominated by COVID-19, the pandemic has prompted the importance of green and clean energy. With more and more people working remotely than ever before, is the daily commute something we would like to see return when routine life resumes? Fuel consumption has dropped with reports of around a 25% decrease against a typical week pre-COVID-19. Can people justify not needing to drive in order to better invest this surplus disposable income? Is the desire for short car journeys a thing of the past?

Such discussions spark further debates on other renewable energy initiatives. Are we recycling enough? Are our homes performing to the best possible energy efficient and low carbon heating standards? Are we reducing our own carbon footprint in the food choices we make? The recent news agenda would suggest people are more open to these ideas. At NIMMS, we have definitely observed an increase in the number of news articles focusing on clean and green energies. For the beginning months of 2021, close to 8,000 such articles were published throughout the UK across online media channels.

Much of the focus centred around three main renewable energy methods: solar, wind and energy storage. Wind and solar energy generated 30% of the UK’s electricity in 2020 with almost a quarter of this being generated by wind turbines. Articles published around these methods reflect our own findings and affirm that the news agenda is positioned in favour of these renewable methods. Innovations in energy storage have ensured its market continues to grow, with more than 16.1GW of battery storage capacity either operating, under construction or being planned in the UK across 729 projects. Energy storage is emerging as another leader in the renewable energy market with more and more media outlets publishing coverage on the energy source. Around 1,700 news articles referred to energy storage technology alone.

Overall, solar, wind and energy storage has controlled 92% of online media coverage regarding renewable energy thus far in 2021. The remaining 8% was shared among hydro, geothermal and bioenergy. Our analysis would suggest this same sentiment is being discussed across the media when referencing bioenergy.

Closer to home, to date 2021 has produced 673 print media articles referencing climate change, renewable energy, recycling and electricity. A broad focus of the coverage was split around many council areas, proving people continue to make a collective effort to help combat climate change locally and as a wider part of the UK and Europe. One striking finding centred on electric cars. Media coverage locally would suggest certain council areas have below average electric car charging points in comparison to other council areas. Northern Ireland is last out of the UK’s four nations for accessibility to electric car charging points. Only 305 are available to the NI population, a rate of 16 per 100,000 people. Undoubtedly, more infrastructure is required to convince people to make the switch to electric powered vehicles.

Discussions on climate change and renewable energy are likely to remain high on the media agenda for 2021. As we gradually emerge from the pandemic this will still hinge on changing attitudes from government, businesses, regulators, and people individually. Reaching net zero targets must be pursued as collective effort with each small green footstep forward impacting hugely for subsequent generations.

For further information on our media monitoring services or media intelligence capabilities. Please contact: mediateam@nimms.co.uk.