This response focuses on how the Climate Change Committee’s balanced pathway targets emission reductions in the residential sector. The residential buildings sector is currently, the second highest-emitting sector in the UK economy, with emissions primarily stemming from the use of fossil fuels for energy, as well as from poor energy efficiency in older housing stock.
Decarbonising residential heat happens at the household level and relies on consumers being motivated and supported to choose low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuel options. To make this transition viable, affordability and warmth must remain a central consideration. The cost of living remains the number one concern for the British public, with 85% saying it’s the most important issue facing the country. Energy bills are a particular worry, 63% of adults in Great Britain say they’re anxious about affording them this coming winter and 58% expect they’ll need to ration their energy usage.Additionally, more households are worried about keeping warm (41%) than the environmental impact of their energy use (21%)iv. Without delivering benefits to affordability, low carbon heating risks discouraging adoption and net zero goals will struggle to be actualised. Moreover, addressing affordability and fuel poverty ensures a fair and just transition to net zero and ensures that low carbon heating doesn’t exclude vulnerable and low-income households.
The balanced pathway to Net Zero 2050 should fulfil the legal obligation of fuel poverty,ensuring as many fuels’ poor households as reasonably practical reach EPC band C by 2030, to be successful. It is unhelpful for the CCC to present a balanced option that cannot be undertaken by the UK Government because it does not fulfil carbon adjacent objectives. Furthermore, energy efficiency improvements can make heat pumps more affordable to run, making them a more attractive option to consumers and accelerating the uptake. Moreover, upgrading the energy efficiency of fuel poor homes, is a lasting way to reduce the energy demand of some of the UK’s most inefficient homes. Given the interdependence of the government’s legal obligation on fuel poverty and their legal obligation for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the CCC and CFP should work together on a more integrated strategy, one in which recommendations are jointly designed to meet both net zero and fuel poverty legal objectives.
The balanced pathway to net zero must consider the impact of cold homes, especially on fuel-poor and vulnerable households. These groups are more likely to ration their energy use to manage costs, putting them at greater risk of the serious physical and mental health consequences associated with living in cold conditions. Addressing this issue ensures that the transition to net zero is not solely focused on reducing carbon emissions but also delivers tangible benefits for household wellbeing. Moreover, ensuring the outcome of warmer, healthier homes is essential for securing public support for low-carbon heating solutions and can generate broader economic and health advantages for society.
To mitigate the disproportionate burden of environmental levies on electricity unit costs for low-income households, UK Government should leverage the Energy Price Guarantee mechanism to provide energy bill support to cover some, or all, of the policy costs found on bills.. Such an approach would help lower electricity bills, alleviate fuel poverty, and enhance the appeal of clean energy alternatives for households.
Affordability and comfort must be the key pillars, in engaging consumers for there to be sufficient interest in low carbon heating methods. Alongside this, the government should improve awareness of available grants, because upfront costs for low carbon heating systems are a key concern and the publics’ awareness of funding options is limited.
Efforts to engage the public should work towards meaningfully fostering trust with households, using and scaling up, inclusive methods such as community retrofit hubs. Community retrofit hubs offer face-to-face support, education, and continuity, ensuring vulnerable groups can access, benefit from, and be supported with, energy efficiency improvements and are a crucial tool in building trust and engaging households that may need more tailored support in the transition to net zero.
