© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: View of the exhaust of a queuing car beside the boundary of London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) zone on the North Circular Road, ahead of proposed upcoming ULEZ expansion, in London, Britain, June 26, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Phot
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s progress in cutting emissions in the home heating sector is being hampered by a slow uptake of heat pumps, a parliamentary watchdog said in a report on Monday.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Most of Britain’s homes are heated by gas and the home heating sector accounts for around 18% of the country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. The government hopes replacing gas boilers with electricity-driven heat pumps will play a large role in cutting emissions from the sector.
KEY QUOTES
The report by the National Audit Office (NAO): “found that the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has no overarching long-term plan to address the low levels of awareness among households about the steps required to decarbonise home heating”.
“Government needs to engage every household to achieve its objective to decarbonise home heating as part of the transition to net zero,” said NAO head Gareth Davies.
CONTEXT
Britain has a legally binding target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 but meeting it will require a change in the way most of its 28 million homes are heated, NAO said in the report.
BY THE NUMBERS
Some 18,900 heat pumps were installed between May 2022 and December 2023 compared with government expectations of 50,000, the report said.
The government wants to see 600,000 heat pumps installed per year by 2028.
THE RESPONSE
A spokesperson for Britain’s Department for Energy and Security and Net Zero said it is running a TV, radio and newspaper campaign reaching 16.6 million households with information about heat pumps, insulation and ways people can cut their bills.
“By helping rather than forcing families to install heat pumps, with a 50% bigger heat pump grant, we have boosted applications by nearly 40%.”
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