UK government scraps plan to ban sale of gas boilers by 2035
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‘Future homes standard’ will not mandate replacing boilers with environmentally friendly alternative. The government is to scrap the 2035 ban on gas boilers in its new housebuilding standards. The previous Conservative government had laid plans to phase out gas heating for homes by banning the sale of new gas boilers by 2035, so people replacing their gas boilers after that date would instead have to buy a heat pump or other environmentally friendly way of heating homes.
Using gas to heat the UK’s homes adds a huge amount to the country’s carbon footprint; home heating accounted for 18% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, and the average UK gas boiler is responsible for more CO2-equivalent emissions in a year than taking seven transatlantic flights.
The former prime minister Rishi Sunak was criticised by scientists and policy experts when he announced his backtrack on a range of environmental measures. This included significantly weakening the plan to phase out the installation of gas boilers by 2035, instead aiming for only an 80% phase-out.
Now, the plan will be scrapped altogether and there will be no requirement to replace a gas boiler with an environmentally friendly alternative. Government sources confirmed that the future homes standard (FHS), expected to be published soon, will not mandate that gas boilers have to be removed and will not include a ban on their sale by 2035.
However, minimum standards for energy efficiency in newly built properties under the rules will preclude the installation of gas boilers. The government is also extending the £7,500 grant for people to install heat pumps, hoping this will boost uptake.
