There is an awareness that domestic heating requires decarbonisation but a welcome recognition too that industrial and commercial energy efficiency also needs to be addressed.

Amongst the 50 policies and plans outlined in the Clean Growth Strategy are proposals including a £557m boost for new renewable energy, a plan for carbon caption storage (CCS), and the introduction of green mortgages, in conjunction with mortgage lenders, to encourage improvements to the energy efficiency of housing.

Further, promising proposals include a £25 million project into the use of hydrogen as an alternative to gas, weighing up the regulatory standards that would be required.

Mike Foster, CEO of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, said:

‘There is a need to decarbonise at the least cost to the consumer and minimal disruption to households which we believe means utilising the existing gas network – negating the need to build new infrastructure. It is promising to see that the future role of gas has been included in the strategy.’

‘Heating and transport both lag behind power generation in meeting carbon reduction targets, and the Government can help by signalling the direction they expect to see – including decarbonised gas for heat and CNG for HGVs. We retain a quiet optimism that with the right mix of policies and the political drive to see them enacted effectively, emission reduction targets can be realised and this governmental strategy is a good step towards this.”