Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why they removed combined heat and power from the second phase of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

The Government is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. On the path to net zero, the Net Zero Strategy and the Heat and Buildings Strategy committed to an aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037. We are clear that the continued use of fossil fuels for heating is not compatible with that ambition.

In order to help meet this ambitious emissions reduction target, the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme has a strong focus on reducing on-site emissions in public sector buildings. It is a scheme requirement that all funded projects remove a fossil fuel heating system and replace this with a low carbon heating system. This means that grant funding cannot be used to purchase any heating technology that runs on fossil fuels, including gas and oil Combined Heat and Power units.