The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report that finds government is not meeting its planned projections for heat pump installations, which is a key component of reducing emissions from home heating.

Home heating accounts for 18% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. With the net zero by 2050 target looming on the horizon, the government is keen for us to switch from our current carbon-emitting heating systems to low-carbon alternatives such as heat pumps.

To decarbonise the UK’s 28 million homes, the government wants to see 600,000 heat pumps installed per year by 2028. This is an elevenfold increase on 55,000 heat pumps installed in 2022.

Even with the government’s £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme, in which homeowners can receive grants of £5,000 for an installation, only 18,900 heat pumps were installed between May 2022 and December 2023. This is far less than the 50,000 the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was hoping would be installed by this point.

According to...