2 min read
At Aspect lately we’ve been supporting quite a few organisations to make sense of policy that’s designed to feel right.
Policies that test well in focus groups. That sound bold at the lectern. That deliver an instant sugar rush of reassurance or political momentum in the run-up to elections - even if what happens next is a bit…unclear.
It reminded me of something I’m hearing a lot about recently from the tech world.
My Digital team colleagues know much more about it that I do, but the idea of ‘vibe coding’ - building software by describing what you want to an AI, rather than really understanding how the code works underneath is becoming more popular and accessible. For non-coders like me its outputs seem almost magical.
For the experienced human coder though, that’s all good until they touch reality and break. The app falls over, and the security holes appear.
That’s when the parallel became obvious.
Call it vibe policymaking
By that, I mean policy built around mood, optics and immediate approval rather than evidence, delivery and system-wide consequences. Like vibe coding, it can look impressive at launch and provide a quick fix – but the problems only show up once real people start relying on it.
We’ve seen this movie before.
Take the UK’s home insulation schemes. The intent was absolutely right: warmer homes, lower bills, lower emissions. But weak design, poor oversight and a lack of industry insight turned a good idea into a parliamentary case study in what not to do. Money wasted. Homes damaged. Public trust dented.
The hope is that DESNZ’s new £15bn Warm Homes Plan does a lot better, delivering targeted support for home upgrades like solar panels, heat pumps and batteries. It remains to be seen whether it will do as promised by tackling household bills, reducing fuels poverty and improving energy security. If it does, great, but if not, public trust in the energy transition will nosedive.
This isn’t about opposing ambition - especially in energy and decarbonisation, where ambition is essential.
But ambition without sound evidence-based policy design is just theatre.
Real policy impact comes from understanding how systems behave, where incentives bite, how markets respond and where risk actually sits - not where we hope it sits.
Good policy is rarely the most exciting on day one. It’s slower and less Instagrammable; more technical and far less slogan-friendly. But it’s also the kind that survives contact with reality.
Just as vibe coding still needs proper engineers behind it, feel-good policy needs rigorous scrutiny, real-world insight and experienced hands shaping it - especially when the stakes are high.
That’s how you avoid expensive surprises and that’s why it’s important that stakeholders like businesses get involved early, bringing their insight to policy design.
That’s how policy ends up delivering what it promised in the first place.
If you’re leading your organisation through major energy policy change, we’re always happy to talk through how those policies can be tested, challenged and strengthened before they meet reality.