Home improvement retailer Kingfisher has announced plans to invest £50 million in renewable energy across its network of locations in an effort to reduce energy consumption from the national grid by 10% in the next two years.

All new buildings constructed after 2020 will be built to European standards for high energy performance and will incorporate renewable energy sources to meet the low energy demand of each building.

The UK subsidiary of Dutch energy company Eneco is to change its strategy and focus more on energy “as a service”, the firm has announced.

District heating networks will be a “big development” of the second half of this decade, according to former energy minister Lord Barker.

Sustainability measures supplier Kingspan has revealed that rolling out energy efficiency products across its own sites added more than €1 million to the company’s net profit for 2013/14.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and a Saudi Arabian prince are among the names signed up to support the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, an initiative launched as COP21 climate talks begin today in Paris.

A group of business leaders and trade association heads have called on the chair of the Energy and Climate Change (ECC) Select Committee to investigate the government’s decision to abandon its commitment to a zero-carbon building standard.

Ex-energy secretary Ed Davey and former energy minister Lord Barker have admitted to failures in the formation of the Green Deal, but stressed there is still a place for a pay as you save efficiency scheme in the UK.

The chief executive of National Energy Action has criticised the Treasury for its “domination over all departments” and claimed the UK has fallen well behind its fuel poverty targets as a result of current policy.

The government has been accused of dressing up the figures surrounding its plans for a replacement to the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) after it emerged the current scheme could cost less than the new proposal.