The UK government has failed to make significant progress in improving the energy efficiency of homes, according to a report by the National Infrastructure Commission.

The commission’s annual Infrastructure Progress Review highlighted the government’s poor record in insulating the UK’s draughty homes and the slow adoption of electric heat pumps to reduce emissions from home heating.

The report identified specific priorities for the year ahead, including tightening minimum standards in private rented sector homes.

There is “a significant gap between long-term ambition and current performance”, according to Sir John Armitt, chair of the NIC, who called for “a change of gear in infrastructure policy”.

“This means fewer low-stakes incremental changes and instead placing some bigger strategic bets, backed by public funding where necessary – after all, the risk of delay in addressing climate change is now greater than the risk of over-correction,”  he added.

The government has targeted at least 600,000 heat pumps to be installed each year by 2028. However, only 55,000 were fitted in 2021, while 1.5 million gas boilers were fitted. 

The NIC blamed the lack of progress on insufficient government funding and called for the development of a concrete plan.

“Getting our infrastructure right for the second half of this century is a journey that, by definition, will go on being plotted over the coming decades,” said Sir John Armitt. “But a further year of prevarication risks losing momentum on critical areas like achieving the statutory net zero target. Rarely has the need for speed been more evident.”