Accelerating UK home decarbonisation
The Green Home Bonus
For too long, making homes greener has been seen as expensive and complicated. We wanted to challenge that assumption with hard evidence.
In 2025, we published The Green Home Bonus, a major piece of research reviewed by academics from the universities of Exeter, Leeds, and Stirling. It modelled what happens when a typical UK household invests in six green technologies: a heat pump, home insulation, solar panels, an EV lease, an EV home charger, and a smart meter.
The findings
The research showed that without green upgrades, households miss out on real, tangible savings.
5 years after investment, the typical household has already gained back all of the upfront cost and made a profit of just over £2,000. From that point onwards, the savings become pure profit. By year 10, households are nearly £20,000 better off. By year 15, the savings rise to over £37,000 – a clear return on investment that grows with time.
The sum of the financial benefits
Understanding the barriers
78% of UK households wanted to decarbonise their homes
72% identified upfront costs as the main barrier
92% of households earning under £30,000 felt green technology was out of reach
59% of people didn't know that heat pumps could actually reduce their bills
Our proposal
Alongside the research, we put forward a three-point plan to accelerate home decarbonisation across the UK:
Cut the upfront cost of green upgrades
by expanding grants and introducing financing options for green home upgrades
Make green tech cheaper to run
by removing the policy costs that inflate electricity bills and discourage households from switching to heat pumps and EVs
Introduce a fair social tariff
to protect lower-income households from gas price rises, making sure the transition doesn’t leave anyone behind