Heat Pumps

Baroness Thornhill Excerpts

Monday 22nd March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend will be aware that, if we are to meet what is now a legally binding net-zero target, practically all homes—both new and existing buildings—will need to be net zero by 2050. We expect the cost of heat pumps to fall in a mass-market scenario, and the action that we are taking will help to bring down these costs—but the noble Lord highlights an important problem.

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

From talking to my local authority colleagues, I know that their concern is that, for heat pumps to work effectively and actually reduce fuel bills, homes first need to be retrofitted to quite a high standard. However, it is commonly acknowledged that, as the Committee on Climate Change report last year stated, these policies are deemed to have failed, mainly due to the public’s reaction to them. Basically, they cost too much, and it is too much hassle. So does the Minister agree that getting the public on board with retrofitting is a crucial first step towards meeting net-zero targets and that local authorities are absolutely crucial to that task? We must take the public with us.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Indeed I do agree with the noble Baroness that we have to take the public and local authorities with us. As we will set out in the upcoming strategy, we acknowledge that there is further work to do to understand the many constraints that are facing us and how best we can work with both the public and local authorities.