The UK cannot reach net zero unless it stops using gas for heat.

That’s one of the takeaways of a report by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) which analysed the government’s Heat and Buildings strategy and found that there are still funding and policy gaps.

The government’s climate advisors said much more investment is needed in energy efficiency and low carbon heat.

They stressed that move is justified by the “dramatic” rise in the number of households living in fuel poverty as the wholesale price of gas soars to unprecedented levels.

The CCC also said the policies needed to drive improvements in energy efficiency in homes that are not fuel poor are “inadequate”.

It also noted that there are gaps around policies for energy efficiency in small commercial buildings.

A BEIS spokesperson told future Net Zero: “Improving the energy efficiency of our homes is the best long-term method to keep household energy costs down and tackle fuel poverty. This is why we have committed £6.6 billion to improve the energy efficiency.”