Climate Change Committee鈥檚 latest report sets out progress needed to stay on track with net zero targets

Half of homes should be installed with a heat pump by 2040 but hydrogen should not be used to heat buildings, the government has been told.

The Climate Change Committee鈥檚 (CCC) Seventh Carbon Budget report said the annual rate of heat pump installations needs to rise from 60,000 recorded in 2023 to almost 450,000 by 2030 and hit 1.5 million by 2035.

But it said it sees 鈥渘o role鈥� for hydrogen in heating buildings, including homes, and only a 鈥渧ery niche, if any鈥� role in transport.

shutterstock Heat pump garden

Source: Shutterstock

Only 1% of homes were heated using a heat pump in 2023, according to the report

The report instead called for the gas to play a 鈥渟mall but important role鈥� in the UK鈥檚 net zero transition in powering certain industrial sectors such as ceramics and chemical production and as a long-term storable energy that can be used as a backup for electricity supply.

The CCC is a non-departmental public body set up in 2008 to advise the government on policy aiming to reduce carbon emissions and was a key influence on former prime minister Theresa May鈥檚 decision to commit to the 2050 net zero emissions target in June 2019.

Its latest report, which uses 2023 as a baseline, calls for offshore wind capacity to increase six-fold from 15gw to 88gw by 2040 and onshore wind capacity to double to 32gw, accompanied by a 鈥渞apid鈥� expansion of the transmission grid and distribution network.

To hit the 2050 target, around 50% of homes would need to be heated using heat pumps by 2040 compared to 1% in 2023, with all new and replacement heating systems to become low carbon after 2035 to ensure a fully decarbonised housing stock.

This rate of increase would be in line with other European countries including Ireland and the Netherlands, according to the report.

Anil Sawhney, head of sustainability at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, welcomed the report but urged the government to ensure low carbon interventions in homes were of a high quality.

鈥淔or these installations to reach their potential, we must uphold good installation standards through the greater inclusion of skilled professionals in government-backed installation programmes,鈥� he said.

The RICS has also called on the government to introduce legislation requiring measurement and reporting of embodied carbon.

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