It will require ambitious action…
Just how achievable are net zero targets for the UK housing sector?
“The problem we have is that net zero is ambitious and that requires ambitious action,” according to Dominik Lipnicki (pictured), director at Your Mortgage Decisions.
Domestic heating, mostly using gas boilers, creates 17% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions, according to E3G, and the government has set a target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This means that the country needs to almost completely ‘decarbonise’ housing stock in the next 30 years.
In order to achieve this, UK homes will need to shift away from using gas and oil boilers to produce heat, and primarily rely on electric systems like heat pumps. It will also involve upgrading homes to make them more energy efficient so that less energy is wasted, regardless of how it is produced.
E3G outlined that UK housing stock is among the ‘leakiest’ in Europe, which means UK households are left paying more and living in colder homes than many of their peers.
Read more: Green homes – what role will they play in UK's net zero climate strategy?
Lipnicki went on to say that the green incentives in Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement were welcome steps, but he believes they are small steps in the grand scheme of things.
“Waving VAT for the next five years on energy saving materials such as solar panels, heat pumps and insulation is a good incentive but how many people will be able to afford to make the switch with the costs of living soaring?” asked Lipnicki.
The government has offered a £5,000 grant for homeowners to replace gas boilers with low-carbon heat pumps across England and Wales.
This is part of a £3.9 billion plan to provide 90,000 pumps to reduce carbon emissions from heating buildings. As a result of this investment, the government hopes to see no new gas boilers sold after 2035.
However, Lipnicki said that heat pumps only really work if the house is really well insulated throughout.
“In tough financial times people do not tend to have the cash to invest in progressive change. The same is true for many businesses unfortunately, and it is a shame that businesses are not included in the energy price cap,” he added.
Also revealed during the Spring statement, the chancellor outlined three immediate measures to combat the cost-of-living crisis - one is eliminating taxes from energy-saving materials, and the others: cutting fuel duty by 5p per litre, and the doubling of the Household Support Fund to £1 billion.
Despite this, Lipnicki said it does not go far enough and outlined that more needs to be done in order to combat the cost-of-living crisis, so more focus can be given to the net zero agenda.
“The fuel duty cut of 5p per litre for diesel and petrol is a bit of a drop in the ocean and will not make a tangible difference to many,” he said.
Read more: Cost of living inflation and mortgages – what is the impact?
He believes there is a difficult road ahead because the country is trying to achieve economic recovery at the same time as implementing major changes to achieve sustainability and net zero.
“Rishi Sunak’s measures do not help us to make much progress down that road,” he concluded.
