Heat Pump Rollout in France and the UK: a Comparative Analysis
This report by the MCS Foundation assesses why the UK is lagging behind targets on heat pump deployment and sets out lessons the UK can learn from France in this area.
It highlights how the French government seized opportunities when there was disruption in global energy markets to refocus attention away from gas and oil onto electrifying heat. In addition, France has had energy efficiency standards for new-build homes for more than a decade that have accelerated heat pump deployment, and energy efficiency has been a political priority across different political parties. In 2019, Emmanuel Macron’s government introduced financial incentives that saw a near-doubling of air-to-water heat pump installations within a year, building on previous incentive schemes. As a result of sustained support for heat pumps, France had more than 30,000 full time jobs in the heat pump industry in 2019, and increased from 100,000 sales in 2010 to over 600,000 sales by 2022.
The report calls for the UK Government to immediately commit to making heat pumps mandatory for all new homes, scaling up and extending grants for homeowners to install heat pumps and introducing new loan schemes, and a massive consumer awareness campaign to help people access funding.
Download the report here.