Call for ban on new gas boilers by 2025 to hit climate change targets

NEW gas boilers must be banned from 2025 if the UK is to meet its climate change goals, a report from the Confederation of British Industry and the University of Birmingham has said.

Homes should be fitted with lowercarbon systems such as heat pumps – which can take energy from the ground, air or water – or a hybrid system, the report says.

Hydrogen-ready boilers could also be installed instead, the report says, despite “significant uncertainty” over the viability of the technology as a largescale low-carbon alternative.

By 2035, it says, all boilers installed in any homes must be zero-emissions.

Heat counts for over a third of the country’s carbon emissions, the biggest single source, and over half of that comes from domestic buildings.

Most homes are heated by natural gas boilers, posing a major challenge for the Government’s commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

“Delivering decarbonisation of heating is the biggest energy challenge we face in getting to net-zero. Unlike electricity, which can be changed at a systems level, it requires over 20million households to adopt new energy efficiency measures,” said Prof Martin Freer of the University of Birmingham.

The report, which was compiled by members of the CBI, researchers from Birmingham University and energy industry figures, calls for an “Olympicstyle”

body to lead a decarbonisation strategy across different sectors in the UK, including heating and transport.

The report calls for the Government to go further than its pledge in March last year that gas boilers would be phased out in new homes by 2025.

Heat pumps are already deployable, using electricity to run. They cost between £6,000 to £19,000 to install, but can save on energy bills in the long run.

Hydrogen-ready boilers, which are expected to cost between £50 to £100 more than a regular boiler, would be ready to switch from gas if hydrogen is rolled out across the networks.

But there is still significant doubt over when this might happen, said Richard Lowe, an energy specialist at the University of Exeter.