In wide-ranging review of the UK’s infrastructure, the body asserted that electrification was the only viable option for decarbonising buildings at scale and reducing the country’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Gas boilers currently heat around 88 per cent of English buildings, but need to be phased out rapidly for the country to meet its climate commitments. Around eight million additional buildings will need to switch to low-carbon heating by 2035, and all buildings by 2050.

The government is currently looking at plans to start pumping a 20 per cent hydrogen gas blend into the supply network as early as 2028.

But the NIC said its analysis “demonstrates that there is no public policy case for hydrogen to be used to heat individual buildings”.

It urged the government to devote £1.5bn to £4.5bn annually to improve energy efficiency and install heat pumps across the public sector and social housing in a bid to boost supply chains.

This includes the provision...