Sandy MacDonald

ALT Quote from Jonathan Marshall, Senior Economist: England’s homes have as large a carbon footprint as our petrol and diesel powered cars. The key policy task for the 2020s is finding a way of decarbonising millions of homes without leaving poorer households behind or burdening them with unaffordable costs. Previous approaches such as cheap loans have failed to deliver improvements at scale, and the biggest barrier to energy efficient homes has been largely ignored: our leaky walls. The sheer cost of insulating Britain’s walls means that the state cannot be expected to foot the bill entirely. Instead, a new carrot and stick approach is needed to ensure England’s nine million leaky homes are upgraded. Mandating that all homes must be energy efficient by 2035 can spur home-owners and landlords into action, while a new means test could help around half of households with at least some of the costs of the upgrades, crucially covering all of the costs for those with the lowest means.

ALT Chart showing Number (left panel) and share (right panel) of residential properties by wall, window and roof energy efficiency rating: England, 2021