“It’s our role to take everyone on the journey towards Net Zero living”

Today we have launched a new index which will explore how UK families are feeling about the journey to Net Zero and readiness to make changes to their home and lifestyle.

It shows there is a lack of confidence among the public about the UK’s journey to Net Zero, with most believing that the country will reach its goal closer to 2075 rather than 2050. Despite this pessimism, climate change is ranked as the fourth most important issue facing the country. People want to get there but just don’t see how it can be done.

Understandably, energy price pressures are driving the public to consider making changes to their homes, such as installing energy efficiency products. Insulation and solar panels are the things consumers are most likely to consider followed by electric vehicles. Low carbon heating such as heat pumps are lagging behind but given it’s early days for this technology and there are now Government grants available, we would expect appetite to increase.

This research will be repeated each year and will give us valuable insights into how we can support our customers in making changes to become more energy efficient – as well as any bigger regulatory changes that might be needed to reach our goals. 

British Gas is the most trusted energy supplier to deliver on Net Zero, according to the index. With the largest heating engineering workforce in the country, we are already helping customers to make low carbon choices.

Today we also announce the launch of our new dedicated Net Zero business unit whose sole mission will be to help residential customers lower their emissions. I’m delighted to have been asked to head up the team and am very excited about the products and services to come.

We know people want to make these changes but its not always easy or obvious to know what to do. It’s our role to take everyone on the journey towards Net Zero living by helping make homes more efficient and helping customers use less energy.

A big part of our work will involve making the switch to electric easier – from heat pumps to electric vehicles. But we also need to work to build new, smarter, services like a smart grid that can let homes generate, store and share energy. And special tariffs and tools to make it easier to charge cars and batteries when there is plenty of renewable electricity.

We think the future is exciting and the journey to Net Zero is possible and we’ll be there to take our customers through it.

See the press release and download the full report here