New Times,
New Thinking.

  1. Chart of the Day
14 December 2022updated 27 Oct 2023 12:13pm

How austerity devastated UK home insulation

Spending cuts in 2013 dramatically reduced the number of energy efficiency installations.

By Ben Walker

Budget cuts have held the UK back from insulating homes, data from the Climate Change Committee shows.

The committee, which was set up to report on the progress made by the UK in reducing emissions, exposes how the era of austerity has hampered the rates of home energy efficiency installations.

From 2010 to 2012, as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government was making cuts in public spending, more than 1.5 million energy efficiency upgrades were made in homes every year. But in 2013 that statistic collapsed from 2.3 million installations to just over 300,000.

In 2014, overall installations recovered to more than 500,000, before collapsing once again to below 300,000. In 2021, despite increased attention on the climate crisis, total installations did not even reach 100,000.

[See also: The green jobs bonanza is already here]

Content from our partners
The future of exams
Skills are the key to economic growth
Skills Transition is investing in UK skills and jobs

Subscribe to The New Statesman today for only £1 per week

Topics in this article :