Accelerating decarbonisation of major energy demands (SIF)

Challenge
ICH-22-04
Accelerating decarbonisation of major energy demands (SIF)

Decarbonisation of heat and transport, at the pace required by the net zero commitment and the sixth carbon budget, is a significant challenge. For example, fewer than 30,000 heat pumps were installed in 2020, rapid scale up of deployment is needed to get to the government target of 600,000 installations by 2028. While this is a national target, there are more aggressive targets at the devolved level, such as in Scotland where by 2030 at least 1 million homes must convert to zero emissions heating. Similarly, in terms of heat networks which deliver c. 2% of total heat demand currently, this needs to scale rapidly to be low-carbon and distributing a fifth of the heat demand by 2050.