Earlier this year, reports suggested that people would be forced to rip out functioning gas boilers and replace them with expensive heat pumps. Instead, the heat and buildings strategy was launched at the end of last month with the promise of ￡5,000 grants to replace fossil fuel boilers with heat pumps. And, without a hint of compulsion, Boris Johnson said: "The greenshirts of the boiler police are not going to kick in your door with their sandal-clad feet and seize, at carrot-point, your trusty old combi." Much has been riding on the heat and buildings strategy with the expectation that it would set out how to tackle the monumental challenge of reducing carbon emissions from Britain's 30 million buildings. Approximately 30 of the UK's carbon emissions come from buildings, with 79 of this generated by heating, so decarbonising this is central to the government's target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
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