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Decarbonising Heat in Homes
BEIS Select Committee report

GSHPA welcomes the BEIS Select Committee report of 3 February 2022 and encourages you to read the Decarbonising heat in homes report in full.

GSHPA particularly welcomes the Committee's views that:

For those who do not have time to read the full 66 page report, these are some of the key conclusions:

  • To successfully decarbonise domestic heating in time to deliver net zero by 2050, the Government must provide clear, strategic direction and guidance. The Government must now focus on providing a coherent policy environment that encourages policy consistency and certainty in the transition to low carbon domestic heat. (Paragraph 32)
  • We acknowledge that the Government wants to give industry the time to develop its supply chains; however, this appears to be to the detriment of new build homeowners, who will have to pay to retrofit their new homes. It is unnecessary to wait until 2025 to implement the Future Homes Standard. To minimise expensive retrofit costs, the Government should bring forward the implementation of the Future Homes Standard to 2023 instead of 2025. (Paragraph 54)
  • We recommend that in the context of the phasing out of gas boilers, the Government adopts a clear and specific end-date by regulating through legislation the phase out of gas boilers. We also recommend that the Government sets out its plan on how it expects the industry and consumers to phase out the installation and use of gas boilers by 2035. (Paragraph 61)
  • It is vital that the Government should meet its target to deliver a minimum of 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028, or it will fall off course in delivering net zero by 2050. The Government has not outlined in the Heat and Buildings Strategy its plans for how it will meet the heat pump target. (Paragraph 68)
  • We ask the Government to set out the intended milestones and targets it has in place to ensure that the UK meets its 2028 target and what funding it will put in place to ensure that each of these milestones is met. The Government must have integrated and coherent policies, such as an effective energy efficiency programme that complements and aligns with the target of 600,000 heat pump installations per year by 2028. (Paragraph 69)
  • To ensure that the UK does not fall off course in achieving its targets for carbon emissions reductions, we recommend that the Government works with industry to consider how the Climate Change Committee's advice to deliver 900,000 heat pumps a year by 2028 can be achieved. (Paragraph 72)
  • The Secretary of State's assertion that the target to deploy 600,000 heat pumps will "have to be delivered" highlights the Government's determination, but there is still a lack of specific, strategic action on its part to ensure that low carbon heat targets will be delivered. The Government must set out a clear, long term plan as to how the current rate of installations will be increased in order to scale up the market. (Paragraph 76)
  • We recommend that the Government reapportions environmental levies to improve the financial attractiveness of electrified heat and to encourage the uptake of electrified low carbon heating systems. The levies should reflect the relative carbon emissions of gas and electricity. (Paragraph 124)

The report also includes links to the 131 written evidence submissions to the Committee (and shows that those with an interest in the sale of gas are still fighting a rearguard action to hope to allow them to continue to emit CO2 for as long as possible).

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