On 20 September 2023, prime minister Rishi Sunak set out what he called a "new approach" to net zero, delaying or dropping several core climate policies. The 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans moves back five years to 2035, the phaseout of oil, LPG and new coal heating in off-gas-grid homes moves from 2026 to 2035, and planned minimum energy efficiency standards for rented homes are scrapped1.
On cars, the government confirmed after initial confusion that the zero emission vehicle mandate remains in place, with business secretary Kemi Badenoch among the ministers confirming it was unchanged1. From January 2024 the mandate was due to require 22% of vehicles sold to be electric, rising to 80% in 2030, with fines of up to £15,000 a car for manufacturers that miss the target1. The Department for Transport had not responded to its ZEV consultation, which closed in May, and the mandate still needed a vote in the House of Commons before coming into force1. The previous 2030 date had been set in 2020, when Boris Johnson brought the ban forward by five years from 20351.
On heating, the 2026 deadline for new oil, LPG and coal heating had followed a 2021 consultation, and the ban was set to affect around 1.7m homes in predominantly rural areas1. Sunak said the change would spare homeowners around £10,000 to £15,000, though only those replacing an oil boiler would have needed a new system, and they would have been eligible for government support1. The 2025 ban on fossil-fuel boilers in new homes and the wider 2035 boiler phaseout remain, but with new exemptions for households said to face the greatest difficulty switching; Sunak said the exemption was expected to cover about a fifth of homes, including off-gas-grid properties1. It remains unclear how the exemption would work or which homes it would cover1.
The boiler upgrade scheme grant for heat pumps rises to £7,500, from £5,000 for air-source and £6,000 for ground-source heat pumps, with £5,000 for a biomass boiler1. Whether overall scheme funding rises was not specified1.
"We'll never force anyone to rip out their existing boiler and replace it with a heat pump. You'll only ever have to make the switch when you're replacing your boiler anyway and, even then, not until 2035. And, to help those households for whom this will be hardest, I'm introducing a new exemption today so that they'll never have to switch at all."
Reaction was divided. More than 400 companies and civil society groups signed an open letter opposing the rollback, and politicians from across parties criticised it, with some calling for a snap general election1. Others welcomed the changes1. Polling by More In Common in the week of the speech found the public preferred the government to do more rather than less on net zero by a 49 to 18 point margin, and that 41% of people were less likely to vote Conservative if the government did not stick to its climate commitments1. Jordan Brompton of myenergi said the delay "weakens confidence in UK investment" and that families who cannot afford a new car may wait longer for a cheaper used electric car2.
Why it matters for households
The dates that shape a home's options have moved. A household buying a new car has five more years in which a petrol or diesel model can be sold, while the ZEV mandate still pushes manufacturers towards electric sales from January 20241. For homes off the gas grid, the point at which a replacement oil, LPG or coal system would no longer be sold shifts from 2026 to 2035, so an existing oil boiler can in principle be replaced with a like-for-like unit for longer1. The 2035 gas boiler phaseout still stands, but with exemptions for a group of homes the government has not yet defined1. Private landlords face no new legal obligation to improve their properties, which removes a route by which tenants might have seen energy efficiency standards for rented homes raise the fabric of the homes they live in1. The higher heat pump grant changes the arithmetic for anyone considering a heat pump now, though the total funding pot was not stated1.
What happens next
The ZEV mandate still requires a Commons vote before taking effect in January 2024, and the Department for Transport had not responded to its consultation1. The Climate Change Committee has written to the government asking how it still expects to meet its targets given the changes1. The government remains committed to its clean heat market mechanism, due to require a rising share of heating sales to be zero-emissions from 20241.