The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) released a report this month (Jan 2023), outlining why the UK Government needs to do more to move homes away from relying on gas. However, the government is delaying this move and subsequently “critically undermining” their sustainability pledges.
The UK Government is subsequently “critically undermining” their sustainability pledges.
In 2022, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed that £5.8 billon was to be set aside to increase energy efficiency funding. This funding has been put in place to reduce the energy consumption within industry and buildings in the UK by 15%. It has been predicted that this reduction will save the UK £28 billion in bills.
However, the worry comes from the delay in the release of these funds, as the money is to become available in 2025. With the government aiming to reach an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) grade C or higher for all existing homes by 2035, this delay may cause problems when trying to reach this target.
This delay will also cause further problems if the UK Government does not carry out the recommendations issued by the IPPR, which state that this EPC target should be brought forward for both owned and privately rented properties. The report states that the new target date for owned homes should be 2030 and for privately rented homes this date should be 2028.
The IPPR have warned the UK Government, that if they also want to reach their target of 600,000 heat pumps being installed each year by 2028, they need to allocate £3.4 billion to achieve this target.
Overall, the IPPR have warned the UK Government that bringing forward the date in which the funding will be released will help to increase the UK’s energy efficiency, help the UK to become less dependent on gas, and increase its sustainability.
