Latest Publications

Decarbonising home heat, which accounts for 14% of the UK’s carbon emissions, is essential if the UK is to achieve its target to reach net zero emissions by 2050. But current policies are falling short. This report explores what motivates landlords and owner occupiers to insulate their homes, and how to overcome the obstacles that prevent them from doing so.

As the single largest cost for millions of households across the UK, understanding the financial burden of transport is critical to decreasing poverty. Yet, unlike for energy or housing, there is no metric in place to track the cost and accessibility of transport. This report seeks to fill that gap by developing a measure to demonstrate the causes, locations and depths of transport poverty.

Despite the government’s target to reach net zero emissions by 2050, the UK’s heat pump supply chain is still in its infancy and remains much weaker than in mainland Europe or Asia. This report explores the economic and environmental benefits of making the UK’s heat pump supply chain more robust and provides recommendations for how to turn this opportunity into a reality.

The success of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has triggered significant changes in international trade and manufacturing, as other OECD governments have sought to imitate its approach. This briefing surveys international responses to the IRA to identify how the can UK take advantage of the opportunities in this new economic regime.

Up to 900,000 UK families living in heat networks (i.e. receiving energy from a source shared with other buildings) risk facing staggering increases to their energy bills, by 700% in some cases. Beyond the immediate crisis, there are long-standing issues with heat networks. In this briefing, Will Damazer sets out an ambitious plan to overhaul the heat network system and secure a fairer deal for all those living in them.

Britain has the leakiest homes in England, and the case for improving energy efficiency is only getting stronger. It is unclear if government support provided thus far is enough to encourage people improve their homes' energy efficiency. In this briefing, we present much-needed evidence on different consumers’ perspectives on the need for these measures, and the barriers to uptake.

The current system of policies supporting households with high energy bills is inadequate for an era of high energy bills. In this final, report with Public First, we present a new policy framework that should be in place by spring 2024 – to ensure warmer homes, fairer use of public money, and overall cheaper bills. It is part of a wider project commissioned and supported by Citizens Advice.

A key part of shifting to cleaner road transport will require replacing 32 million high-carbon vehicles with alternatives like electric vehicles. This report explores the key challenges is upskilling the industry to repair and maintain EVs, presents suggestions for what policymakers can do to support those in vehicle service, maintenance, and repair.

Energy bills are expected to remain high for several more years, and are a reminder that we do not have durable and considered bill policies at a UK level. In this joint interim report with Public First, we set out a series of choices and challenges around the future of energy bill policy. It is part of a wider project commissioned and supported by Citizens Advice.