Hitting net zero: how the government can decarbonise homes

Decarbonising homes will be among the most difficult elements of reaching net zero. Homes account for 15% of the UK’s total emissions, yet there has been little progress towards reducing these over the past decade. Confidence has been damaged by repeated U-turns and policy failures, including the Green Deal and the Green Homes Grant. Achieving net zero by 2050 will require a huge national programme to deliver the infrastructure needed to reduce residential emissions – retrofitting homes, installing heat pumps and developing local heat networks. The government, businesses and consumers all have key roles to play. But how should the government approach policy making in this area? Will the long overdue Heat and Buildings Strategy be worth the wait and offer a clear plan? How can previous policy failures be learnt from? And how can we ensure the UK’s infrastructure is ready to support zero-emission homes? On our panel to discuss these issues was: Lord Callanan, Minister for Business, Energy & Corporate Responsibility at BEIS Chris Burchell, Managing Director, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution Gillian Cooper, Head of Energy Policy at Citizens Advice Guy Newey, Director of Strategy and Performance at the Energy Systems Catapult This event was chaired by Marcus Shepheard, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government. We would like to thank Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution for supporting this event.