Blueprint for green UK WILL see ban on gas boilers by 2035: Ministers will push ahead with eco drive despite warnings it could provoke fury
- Families will not be forced to remove their existing boilers, but will be encouraged to install low-carbon heating systems with £5,000 grants from April
- But funding will allow just 90,000 heat pump installations over three years
- It comes as Prince Charles warned about consequences of climate change
Ministers will press ahead with plans to ban the installation of conventional gas boilers by 2035 – despite warnings that the move could provoke a public backlash.
Families will not be forced to remove their existing boilers, but will be encouraged to install low-carbon heating systems with grants of £5,000 from April.
However, the funding will allow just 90,000 heat pump installations over three years – far short of Boris Johnson’s ambition of 600,000 a year by 2028.
The Government also said it will make a decision on the potential role for hydrogen in heating homes by 2026.
The decision came as Prince Charles warned about the consequences of climate change, and told how his grandson Prince George learning how global warming was causing ‘the big storms, and floods, the droughts, fires and food shortages’ around the world.
The decision came as Prince Charles (pictured in Sky documentary) warned about the consequences of climate change, and told how his grandson Prince George learning how global warming was causing ‘the big storms, and floods, the droughts, fires and food shortages’ around the world
The boiler plans are outlined in the Government’s long-awaited ‘heat and buildings strategy’, to be published today. Switching to low carbon heating in the coming years will cut emissions, and reduce the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels and exposure to global price spikes in gas, the Government said.
Ministers expect it will also support up to 240,000 UK jobs by 2035. But Tory former minister Steve Baker last night warned that the Government faces a backlash when voters realise the costs involved of switching away from gas.
‘It is not clear to me how a boiler ban is going to be affordable for the public,’ he said. ‘I am quite certain that the cost has not been adequately considered.’
Government sources also confirmed ministers will press ahead later this year with a plan to pile new ‘green’ levies on to gas bills. Levies on electricity will be cut in a bid to persuade consumers to switch to greener energy.
The boiler plans are outlined in the Government’s long-awaited ‘heat and buildings strategy’, to be published today (file image)
Boris Johnson is to announce £9.7billion of overseas investment in the UK, creating 30,000 jobs, Downing Street said
Friends of the Earth’s Mike Childs said the Government’s plans were ‘quite modest’. He added: ‘Housing is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise but the Government is making it all the more difficult by leaving half its tools in the toolbox, with unambitious policies and inadequate funding.’
The Prime Minister said last night: ‘As we clean up the way we heat our homes over the next decade, we are backing our brilliant innovators to make clean technology like heat pumps as cheap to buy and run as gas boilers – supporting thousands of green jobs. Our new grants will help homeowners make the switch sooner.’
Mr Johnson is to announce £9.7billion of overseas investment in the UK, creating 30,000 jobs, Downing Street said. The deals will support growth in areas such as wind energy, sustainable homes and carbon capture.
Global warning: Kynan from Indonesia, who featured in the In Your Hands documentary
Darielen from Brazil appearing in the Sky Kids documentary Cop26: In Your Hands
The Prime Minister will today host business leaders including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at the Global Investment Summit at the Science Museum in London.
Yesterday also saw Ford reveal it is investing £230million to transform its Halewood factory on Merseyside to help build a new generation of zero-emissions cars. Its first electric vehicle parts hub in Europe will safeguard 500 jobs. Prince Charles was introducing a documentary ahead of Cop26. He is shown holding a revolving earth in the footage, telling viewers: ‘Your future depends upon the future of the planet.’
The Sky Kids documentary Cop26: In Your Hands features six young activists who highlight the impact of climate change on their corners of the Earth. The prince tells viewers: ‘I’m old enough to have a grandson.
‘Like you, he is learning how climate change is causing the big storms, and floods, the droughts, fires and food shortages we are seeing around the world.’
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