On October 21, 2025, the Northern Ireland Audit Office delivered a sobering assessment of Stormont’s ambitious green energy strategy, concluding that after five years and £107 million spent, progress toward key targets is “lagging considerably.” The report, led by Comptroller and Auditor General Dorinnia Carville, found “significant flaws” in implementation and oversight, raising doubts about whether the Department for the Economy’s efforts represent true value for money.
The energy strategy, first published in December 2021, was designed to align Northern Ireland with UK-wide commitments to reduce carbon emissions. At its heart were three legally binding targets for 2030: achieving 80% of electricity from renewable sources (primarily wind and solar), securing 8,000 GWh of energy savings, and ensuring affordable energy for businesses and consumers. Yet, as of March 2025, the Audit Office found that only 1% of the targeted energy savings had been achieved, and the renewable electricity target was facing a 35% shortfall, with just 45% of consumption coming from renewables.
“It is very concerning that at this stage two out of the legally binding three targets in the strategy are at significant risk of not being met,” Carville told BBC News NI. She added, “Because there has been no evidence to indicate that the actions have delivered significantly on the targets of the strategy, we cannot conclude that it is value for money.”
The Audit Office’s report went beyond mere numbers, highlighting systemic issues in the Department for the Economy’s approach. Governance and oversight were singled out as major weaknesses. The group tasked with monitoring progress—the Energy Strategy Oversight Group—did not review whether action plans contributed to targets until September 2024, more than two and a half years after the strategy’s launch. “Successful implementation requires good governance and effective oversight, and this report highlights concerning shortcomings in these areas,” Carville emphasized, according to The Irish News.
Of the £107 million spent since 2020, about £85 million was allocated to capital projects, with the remaining £22 million covering departmental staffing costs. Despite this substantial investment, the Audit Office found that key metrics were not measured for years, and some planned actions “effectively disappeared from view.” In some cases, senior officers decided not to deliver previously approved actions, with no clear accountability mechanisms in place.
The report also criticized an overreliance on public consultations, which, while valuable in principle, became excessive and risked undermining the strategy’s effectiveness. In 2024, more than half of the strategy’s actions involved public consultation, leading to confusion about which projects were actually progressing. Notably, a scheme to improve energy efficiency in businesses and a proposed “one-stop shop” for decarbonisation information were both announced, consulted on, and ultimately abandoned.
Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald defended her department’s efforts, stating, “We have statutory targets to meet and we are making good progress, but we will be reviewing all of that and we’ll be publishing that report before the end of the year.” She also pointed out that “eight or nine million a year of savings is being generated because of that investment, and it shows the actual public sector leadership in terms of decarbonisation.” Despite these assurances, the Audit Office’s findings suggest that these savings are a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the targets.
The political fallout was immediate. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member Phillip Brett, chair of Stormont’s Economy Committee, said the report confirmed longstanding concerns about the feasibility of the targets. “I welcome today’s report because it gives clear and independent evidence that we need a reset within the Department for the Economy, within the assembly and the executive, to have realistic targets that we can actually meet,” Brett told BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme. “We want to meet the targets, but they need to be realistic, there’s no point having targets on a piece of paper, with politicians pretending that they are going to be met.”
On the other side of the political spectrum, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) economy spokesperson Sinéad McLaughlin was scathing in her assessment. “The report exposes a complete absence of urgency, leadership and accountability in tackling the climate crisis and securing Northern Ireland’s energy future,” she said. “Despite more than £100m of public money spent, the department has failed to deliver meaningful progress on energy savings or renewable generation targets. That is unacceptable, for the public purse, for our climate obligations and for the future of our economy.”
The Audit Office’s critique extended to the planning and execution of the strategy’s annual action plans. There was, according to the report, a “lack of clarity” about planned actions and “lack of precise detail” on when some actions would be completed, what the actual work entailed, or what specific, measurable outcomes were expected. Furthermore, the absence of interim targets or milestones made it difficult to gauge the pace of progress toward the 2030 goals.
In response to these findings, the Department for the Economy has committed to implementing the Audit Office’s recommendations and announced that a mid-term review of the strategy is underway, scheduled for publication by the end of 2025. The department acknowledged that more recent changes to reporting arrangements should provide greater clarity and help address some of the highlighted shortcomings.
The energy strategy’s vision remains ambitious: net zero carbon and affordable energy by 2050. But the Audit Office’s report makes clear that without urgent improvements in governance, planning, and accountability, Northern Ireland risks falling far short of its climate and energy commitments. As Carville put it, “The Energy Strategy has a pivotal role in ensuring Northern Ireland meets its ambitions and obligations in relation to net zero, energy efficiency and tackling climate change.”
With the clock ticking toward 2030 and public scrutiny intensifying, the coming year will be critical for the Department for the Economy to demonstrate that lessons have been learned and that real, measurable progress is possible. The stakes—both for the public purse and for the climate—couldn’t be higher.
