Northern Ireland Audit Office Report – 21 October 2025

Audit Exposes Major Failures in Northern Ireland’s Energy Strategy

Publisher: Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO)
Comptroller and Auditor General: Dorinnia Carville
Subject: Review of Northern Ireland’s Energy Strategy “Path to Net Zero Energy” (2022–2030)

Summary Verdict

“Significant flaws in the implementation of the Energy Strategy.
Expenditure of £107 million cannot be confirmed as an efficient or effective use of public money.”
— Northern Ireland Audit Office, October 2025

Key Performance Failures

The Energy Strategy set three clear 2030 goals — energy savings, renewable power and a stronger green economy — yet progress by 2025 is far off track.

Only one percent of the planned energy savings has been achieved.
Just forty-five percent of electricity comes from renewables, leaving a thirty-five-point shortfall.
The low-carbon economy is still worth only one-point-five-eight billion pounds, short of the two-billion-pound target.
Overall spending since 2020 stands at one-hundred-and-seven million pounds, with little evidence of measurable return.
The Department’s Energy Group employs one-hundred-and-thirty-four staff at an annual cost of over eight million pounds.

Major Structural Failures

1. Fundamentally flawed planning
The annual Energy Strategy Action Plans were poorly constructed. Seventy-four actions were listed across four years, but they were not linked to the Strategy’s three main targets. Many were vague, unmeasured, and lacked timeframes. Some were quietly dropped and later reintroduced without explanation. The Audit Office described this as a “fundamental flaw in design.”

2. Weak governance and accountability
Oversight groups such as the Energy Strategy Programme Board and its successor, the Energy Strategy Oversight Group, failed to enforce delivery. No clear evidence exists of completed actions. Senior officials in individual departments altered or abandoned commitments without oversight approval. The governance system was described as complex, shifting and ineffective.

3. Failure to monitor progress
For nearly three years, there was no data published to show progress. Only in September 2024 were any measurements released. One of the three core targets still has no reliable data. Without milestones or interim goals, the Department cannot demonstrate whether progress is on pace or adequate.

4. Mismanaged public consultation
The Department conducted repeated and overlapping consultation exercises. In one year alone, eleven separate consultations were held, some receiving fewer than fifty-five responses. Poor coordination caused confusion, fatigue and minimal policy benefit.

5. Ignored expert and climate advice
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) urged Northern Ireland to accelerate renewable generation, hydrogen development and storage. Oversight groups did not discuss or consider this advice, and there is no evidence that any of the CCC’s urgent recommendations were implemented.

Responsible Bodies

The Department for the Economy is named as the lead body and bears primary responsibility for the failure to align actions with targets and demonstrate value for money.
The Energy Strategy Oversight Group failed to monitor, challenge or publish meaningful results.
The Energy Strategy Programme Board did not test the feasibility of proposed actions.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs did not ensure that climate advice was incorporated.
Collectively, the Northern Ireland Executive departments are criticised for a lack of coordination, accountability and leadership.

Audit Office Conclusion

Governance and monitoring arrangements were ineffective and fragmented.
There is no proof that the one-hundred-and-seven million pounds of expenditure achieved any tangible results.
Energy efficiency progress is almost negligible.
Oversight mechanisms failed to identify or correct fundamental design weaknesses.
The Department is unable to demonstrate value for money or sufficient progress toward Net Zero.

A Contrast in Delivery

Belfast City Council’s 2024 Local Area Energy Plan shows what decisive action can look like. It sets clear numbers for heat pump installations, building retrofits and electric-vehicle charge points, backed by a sixteen-to-eighteen-billion-pound investment programme. It demonstrates that local leadership and measurable targets can achieve real progress where central government has not.

The Core Indictment

After three years and more than one-hundred-million pounds spent, Northern Ireland’s Energy Strategy has produced almost no measurable results.
Targets have been missed, governance has failed, and accountability is absent.
The Audit Office concludes that the Strategy has not delivered value for money, and urgent reform of planning, monitoring and oversight is required.