Thank you for contacting me about heat pumps.
Buildings are responsible for around 30 per cent of our national emissions and decarbonising homes and buildings not only helps the UK work towards net zero emissions, but also creates an unparalleled opportunity for job creation and innovation.
One of the hardest things to decarbonise is heat and I am convinced heat pumps are central to achieving net zero. I am glad that the Government takes the role heat pumps can have in driving down carbon emissions very seriously, as do I, and has set an ambitious target of 600,000 heat pump installations a year by 2028. A £60 million Heat Pump Ready programme will help to support reaching this target and provide funding for pioneering heat pump technologies.
I welcome the publication of the ambitious Heat and Buildings Strategy which marks a step change in improving energy efficiency and how we heat them. From 2035, all new heating systems installed in UK homes will either use low-carbon technologies, such as electronic heat pumps, or will support other new technologies, such as hydrogen-ready boilers, where the Government is confident fuel can be clean and green.
To encourage consumers to install low-carbon alternatives, a new £450 million three-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme will offer households £5,000 for low-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps. This scheme is scheduled to open in April 2022.
The strategy also announced that the Government is boosting funding for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, by investing a further £800 million over 2022/23 to 2024/25, and the Home Upgrade Grant, by investing a further £950 million over 2022/23 to 2024/25. This aims to improve the energy performance of low income households’ homes, support low-carbon heat installations, help to reduce fuel poverty and build the green retrofitting sector to benefit all homeowners.
More broadly, the strategy will support 240,000 green skilled jobs by 2035 and deliver £6 billion Gross Value Added by 2030.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Craig Whittaker MP
February 2022.