Installing conventional gas boilers in homes should be banned from 2025, a CBI-backed commission has urged in a new report, which also calls for an “Olympics-style” national delivery body to spearhead a heat decarbonisation strategy.
The Heat Commission, set up by the CBI and the University of Birmingham, sets out a timetable for decarbonising domestic heating in the report.
Published today (22 July) and entitled Net Zero: The Road to Low-Carbon Heat, it recommends the government make it mandatory for all new domestic boiler installations to be part of a hybrid system or “hydrogen-ready” after 2025.
And post-2035, the report says no new natural gas burning boilers or systems should be installed and only net-zero compatible technologies such as air or ground source heat pumps, hydrogen burning boilers or heat networks deployed.
By the mid-2030s, it says all new heating installations will need to be low-carbon.
The report identifies coordinating the purchasing decisions of millions of householders as the biggest challenge facing the transition to decarbonisation of heat.
The commission also calls on the government to reform Winter Fuel Payments, which all pensioners currently receive, and target the cash instead at raising the energy efficiency of the most fuel poor households’ homes.
It says that as those homes receiving the payments become more energy efficient, these funds could be targeted more closely on those in most need, while releasing “substantial” savings in the longer term.
To co-ordinate a national plan for heat decarbonisation, the report recommends that the government creates of a new body modelled on the Olympic Delivery Authority for the 2012 games.
The National Delivery Body would run until at least 2040 with a remit to co-ordinate work across different government departments and regulators.
The national body would work with councils to deliver the programme at a local level.
The report says a national infrastructure programme to deliver heat decarbonisation would provide economic stimulus across the UK’s regions, while creating greater national resilience by delivering future energy savings.
Other recommendations in the report include replacing the soon to be phased out domestic-RHI with new Low-Carbon Heating Scheme grants. These should last until two years after the introduction of the Future Homes Standard for new-build properties in 2025. The grants should run until 2027/28 and over time become less generous and replaced by loans.
Lord Karan Bilimoria, CBI president and chair of the commission, said: “Recent government announcements will undoubtedly fast-forward our transition towards net-zero. The Commission’s recommendations offer a roadmap to accelerate progress, ensure our nation stays on a path to sustainable recovery and ensures the UK remains a global leader in meeting climate commitments.
“Aside from the moral imperative, there’s also a strong economic case for protecting our planet. Large scale heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency would provide a huge jobs boost for the economy at a time when new career opportunities are needed more than ever.”
Responding to the commission’s report, Energy Networks Association chief executive David Smith said: “It’s also important that we don’t forget the supporting infrastructure that we all need to deliver those boilers. This report shows how we can decarbonise our homes and businesses in a way that works with people’s needs, not against them, but only by building a zero-carbon gas grid can we deliver on that.”