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Fair heat: how do we make the transition to low-carbon heating work for all?

Nesta at Labour Party Conference

In A sustainable future

30 Sep 2025

This event took place on Tuesday 30 September. You can watch the recording below.

Event recording

The opinions expressed in this event recording are those of the speaker. For more information, view our full statement on external contributors.

Over 1 million households need to replace their fossil fuel boiler with low-carbon heating in the next 5 years. To make that happen, it must be affordable, attractive and easily accessible for everyone.

At this year’s Labour Party Conference we discussed how to make this happen, with an expert panel that included: Katy King, Deputy Director of Nesta’s sustainable future mission, Luke Murphy, MP for Basingstoke, Matt Copeland, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, National Energy Action and Anna Railton, Cabinet Member for a Zero Carbon Oxford, Oxford City Council. The panel was chaired by Ravi Gurumurthy, Nesta’s Chief Executive.

Our panel explored key policies that can make clean heat work for all kinds of households, and looked back at what has already been achieved to see how to influence change in policy and government.

This event was for policymakers, net zero campaigners and all those interested in a workable solution to the clean energy transition.

Ravi Gurumurthy

He/Him

Ravi Gurumurthy is Group Chief Executive Officer, joining Nesta as Chief Executive in December 2019. Ravi was previously responsible for the International Rescue Committee’s work in designing, testing and scaling products and services for people affected by crisis in over 40 countries - from reducing acute malnutrition and intimate partner violence, to expanding employment for Syrian refugees. Prior to joining the International Rescue Committee in 2013, Ravi held a number of roles in the UK Government, including Director of Strategy at the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change and as a strategic advisor to the Foreign Secretary. Across many departments, Ravi led a number of major social and environmental reforms including the development of the world’s first legally-binding carbon emissions targets and the integration of children’s services. Ravi has also worked as a researcher at the think-tank Demos and in local government in London. Ravi writes a fortnightly substack on policy innovation.

Katy King

She/Her

Katy is deputy director on Nesta's mission to create a sustainable future, which focuses on decarbonisation and economic recovery. Her team focuses on setting up innovation projects and partnerships that reduce carbon emissions from homes, which is a key part of the UK reaching net zero. Katy has a background in energy efficiency and behavioural science. Katy joined Nesta from the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), where she worked across a number of policy areas including household energy efficiency, consumer issues and COVID-19. Prior to working at BIT, Katy worked as a strategist for a leading advertising agency. Katy holds a first class degree in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Matt Copeland

He/Him

Matt is the Head of Policy and Public Affairs at National Energy Action (NEA), having worked there for over six years. He has led NEA’s work to ensure that we move towards net zero in a fair and affordable manner, helping to secure key commitments in the Government's manifesto towards warm homes. His work to ensure that the energy market results in affordable energy for low income households has included advocacy throughout current energy crisis, ensuring that financial support reaches the most vulnerable. Prior to NEA, Matt worked as a Policy Manager at EON, where he worked on issues across the spectrum, including retail market regulation, renewables markets, and electricity network price controls. He has a bachelor’s degree from Durham University in Natural Sciences

Luke Murphy

He/Him

Luke Murphy is the Member of Parliament for Basingstoke, having been elected at the 2024 general election. Before entering parliament, he worked in the private sector and for a national charity, and he was also a local councillor. Luke has worked on housing, energy and climate policy at a national level, firstly as a political and policy adviser for members of Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet, and then as the head of energy, climate, housing and infrastructure at IPPR. He later co-led the economy and environment team. Since being elected, he's been appointed Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Climate and Net Zero and sits on the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee. He is also a founding member of the Living Standards Coalition and member of the Labour Growth Group. Some of the issues he's raised in parliament include energy, the cost of living, long waits for NHS care, the urgent need for better Special Educational Needs and Disability support and reforming the broken leasehold system to give homeowners more control and security.

Anna Railton

She/Her

Cllr Anna Railton is a deputy leader of Oxford city council and the cabinet member for Zero Carbon Oxford. Her day job is working in machine learning for a biotech start up.

Fair heat: how do we make the transition to low-carbon heating work for all?

About Nesta

Fair heat: how do we make the transition to low-carbon heating work for all?

This event took place on Tuesday 30 September. You can watch the recording below.