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Sustainable Homes & Buildings Coalition launches report into decarbonising heat options in the UK

Published: 21-10-2021

The Sustainable Homes and Buildings Coalition, consisting of NatWest, Worcester Bosch, British Gas and Shelter, has today released its first comprehensive report titled ‘Home is where the Heat is’.

The report ‘Home is where the Heat is’ directly engages with consumers, going into clear detail on how the UK can decarbonise homes and buildings across the UK. The aim is to place consumers at the heart of the conversations and ensure they have a better understanding of the technology options available to them, and which are most suitable for their home needs.

As part of this, the report recognises that each consumer journey will be different, due to personal levels of awareness, readiness to act and the diversity of the UK’s building stock. It lays out six distinct customer pathways, helping every household identify with a particular journey.

The pathways will help people and policymakers alike, to better visualise the physical steps and process to follow to achieve the ambition of a net zero built environment, while guaranteeing more comfortable homes and buildings. More broadly, the report calls for Government and the wider business community to address the following challenges in order to better support consumers.

Carl Arntzen, CEO of Worcester Bosch said, “There is no silver bullet to reach net zero emissions from home and building heating, it instead requires a mix of technologies working together. For homeowners, it is vital to have an understanding of what would work for their property and what support they can receive.

“This is why we are fully in support of the Coalition and its first report. We believe it is a firm step towards educating and empowering consumers and installers to make greener choices when it comes to their home heating.

“We look forward to continuing our work with our Coalition partners as we move towards a sustainable future.”

Lloyd Cochrane, Head of Mortgages at NatWest Group added; “Through our partnerships in the Coalition, we want to drive a better understanding of what can be done across the industry and government to raise awareness among consumers and building owners, provide relevant information and appropriate support. We know that making greener choices in the home can often be complex and expensive and there’s no ‘one size fits all’ for individual customers. 

“As the principal banking sponsor supporting COP26 in Glasgow later this year, we want to support customers in making greener choices. This ranges from improving their carbon footprint through our partnership with CoGo, discounts through our green mortgage range and work to ensure customers can understand what they can do to improve the energy efficiency of their home.”

The Coalition believes the UK can achieve a net-zero built environment, and this report is the first of many contributions to that ambition.