The MCS Foundation has welcomed energy minister Lord Callanan’s statement that “Heat pumps and heat networks will be the main route to cutting household emissions for the foreseeable future”, following news that the Government has suspended plans for a “hydrogen town”.

David Cowdrey, Director of External Affairs at the MCS Foundation, said: “We welcome the decision to suspend the ‘hydrogen town’ project. Today’s decision confirms that heat pumps and low-carbon heat networks are the only viable solution for decarbonising heating at scale.

“Heat pump installations in the UK have been growing in the last few years, but we need long-term policy certainty to ramp up the market. Today’s announcement should be followed with a commitment to a massive public awareness campaign to increase heat pump uptake. The Government must also take levies off electricity prices so that heat pumps are always cheaper to run than gas boilers, which would address fuel poverty while helping meet climate targets.”