PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Heating: Carbon Emissions (17 December 2014)

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what progress has been made towards the decarbonisation of heating in the UK to date; what steps he is taking to further progress such decarbonisation; and if he will make a statement.

Asked by:
Jonathan Reynolds (Labour)

The world first Renewable Heat Incentive has been supporting the installation of renewable heating systems in non-domestic buildings in Great Britain since November 2011 following this, the domestic RHI was introduced in April 2014 and already has just over 16,000 renewable heating systems in homes in Great Britain accredited to the scheme.

In addition, the Government established the Heat Networks Delivery Unit in Sept 2013 and the Government’s strategy for decarbonising heat in the UK was set out in the 2013 document The Future of Heating: Meeting the challenge:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-future-of-heating-meeting-the-challenge.

The Unit has already supported 91 Local Authorities with grants and expertise to develop 122 heat network projects across towns and cities in England and Wales.

In order to tackle the decarbonisation challenge in industry, DECC and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are working with the eight most heat-intensive industrial sectors to produce individual roadmaps to 2050.

Answered by:
Amber Rudd (Independent)
9 January 2015