At time of writing the reformed National Planning Policy Framework has been published making clear Labour’s intention to move full steam ahead to get as many homes built as possible. As Ed Miliband likes to say, the Government needs to “move fast and build things”. The Government has been equally ambitious on the energy side; GB Energy, the National Wealth Fund, and lifting the ban on onshore wind are all hugely welcome steps. It is clear that ambition is not something holding the Government back.
However there is a glaring gap in the middle of this Venn diagram and that is the decarbonisation of heating. According to the Energy Systems Catapult, heating makes up nearly 40% of the UK’s emissions and gas heating is the greatest cause of skyrocketing energy as gas prices increased by 11 times between 2019 and 2022 – responsible for 96% of the increase in energy bills, according to Carbon Brief. If we want to lower energy bills and meet our climate targets, we need to move towards decarbonised heating systems.
Despite this challenge there unfortunately seems to be a gap in the Government’s policy work. GB Energy is the Government’s flagship energy policy, but the Chair Jürgen Maier has indicated the state-owned company will only be a “power generator”, seemingly excluding the provision of low carbon heat. The 2024 manifesto only mentioned low carbon heating twice, as opposed to 19 mentions of power (in the energy sense). The £3.4bn committed towards the Warm Homes Plan in the Autumn Budget is absolutely a welcome step but only a fraction of that money will go directly to the installation of decarbonised heating systems. The Government has committed to clean power by 2030, but no such commitment exists for decarbonising heat. The Government is also yet to commit to the previous Government’s targets such as 600,000 heat pump installations and a phaseout of fossil fuel boilers.
We have seen through the debate on the winter fuel allowance payment that heating is an emotive and politically salient issue. Heat decarbonisation is not only important from a climate angle, but from a social justice angle as well. The heating sector has considerable union density across the industry, particularly through GMB-represented gas engineers. Making clear investments in heat decarbonisation now is the best way to protect those workers, by sending a signal to industry that they need to invest in the heat workforce – not in five or ten years – but now. These do not necessarily have to be sole traders operating out the back of vans, as technology like heat networks allow a proper site with real progression for those operating in the heating sector. Even better, growing heat decarbonisation technologies like geothermal offer a clear off-ramp with transferable skills for gas workers.
Clear policy support for decarbonised heating is good for the housebuilding sector as well: a stronger clean heat industry will mean more installers being hired, more heat networks being developed and more R&D funding going into building decarbonisation. By supporting the decarbonised heating sector, the Government can deliver brilliant outcomes for people around the country who desperately need a warm, green and secure home.
If we seize the heat decarbonisation challenge, we can, simply put, kill two birds with one stone. By mandating low-carbon heat network connections for properties where it is appropriate, commit to a phaseout of fossil fuel heating and investing in the clean heat workforce now, the Government can get ahead of the upcoming building blitz. The alternative is having to go back and do it all over again after these properties are built, with dire consequences for growth, workers, and the climate.
This Government is capable of being ambitious, we have seen it in housing, and we have seen it in clean power. Now we need to see the same level of ambition devoted to keeping us warm.