09:25 Miatta Fahnbulleh (Labour)

The draft regulations were laid before the House on 28 November 2024. As heat networks have not yet been debated in this Parliament, I want to say a few words about the context for the draft regulations. Some 23% of the United Kingdom’s carbon emissions come from heating buildings, so decarbonising heat is key to reaching our net zero commitments and to reducing our reliance on international fossil fuels as we sprint to clean power by 2030. Heat pumps and heat networks are the two principal technologies that we believe will achieve that.

I would love to give the right hon. Gentleman a number, but as it is not fully in our gift, because we are working with industry partners to get to the scale we want to achieve, I will refrain from doing so at the moment. But will he please be absolutely reassured that we are trying to run at pace? I see the huge potential of heat networks. They are a way in which we can not only decarbonise our urban centres, but fundamentally lower bills for large numbers of consumers. We are doing everything we can to reassure industry, put incentives in place and ensure that we have a regulatory framework that absolutely works for industries and for consumers so that we can get to 20% sooner rather than later.

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