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The Onward think tank, which is favoured by many Tory MPs, has called on the Government to reach net zero plans by offering home buyers should get a 50 percent stamp duty rebate if they install heat pumps and other energy efficiency measures. As Britons are set to face soaring bills as a result of the wholesale cost of gas, such energy efficiency measures could also help save money in the long run.
Increasing heat pump installations in the UK has been a critical part of the Government’s Energy Security strategy, with a plan to instal up to 600,000 heat pumps per year until 2028.
However, the gas boiler replacement technology is prohibitively expensive for many families, costing thousands of pounds even with the grants provided by the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
The think tank Onward said the stamp duty rebate would “take advantage of the ‘moment of change’ when someone moves house” and help overcome the barriers to insulating Britain’s leaky homes.
According to the Mirror, a similar scheme in Finland had helped the country reach one of the highest rates of heat pump sales in Europe.
The rebate was one of several incentives proposed by the group in a report published today.
While larger organisations had taken significant steps, the think tank noted that individuals had been “hesitant about adopting new technologies” and “reluctant to change the way they live their lives”.
Onward noted that a third of the carbon reductions needed to reach net zero by 2050 relied on individual action.
However, previous Government attempts to incentivise change had been too complex and expensive to succeed.
In a report on Monday, the think tank said: “Conventional policy has displayed limited effectiveness in driving these changes to date, and time is running out.
“It is clear that the Government cannot simply ban, regulate or subsidise its way to net zero. Instead, the Government needs to learn from previous policy failures and think creatively about new forms of intervention which can encourage people to make the required changes.
“A new bold and practical policy package should revolve around incentives which encourage people to work together and interventions which gently steer habits and behaviours.”
Speaking in support of the report, Conservative MP Ruth Edwards, a member of the Conservative Environment Network, said: “I think what the Government’s main aim should be is to make participating in reaching net zero as easy as possible.
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“Whoever the new prime minister is, they are going to have to tackle some of these issues.”
Former shadow energy and climate change secretary, Caroline Flint, said: “As Onward’s new research shows, people have a crucial role to play in reaching net zero through the adoption of clean and green technologies and behaviours.
“But many people are naturally concerned about the upfront costs of doing so.
“This new report sets how the Government can learn from the failures of previous schemes and help people to go green in an affordable manner.”
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