We recently reported that the Climate Change Committee’s Seventh Carbon Budget has set a trajectory for heat pump installations that must be met for the UK to reach net zero – which equates to installing 380,000 low-carbon heating systems in existing homes in 2028, and 610,000 in 2030.

Reaching these targets will require positive changes across multiple factors, such as more people wanting heat pumps in their homes and a workforce that has the skills and capacity to meet this demand. Making these installations easy and affordable will also help ensure we stay on track. However, we know that some installations are considerably slower and more expensive than others, partly due to additional processes such as applying for planning permission.

This project aims to explore how we can make each heat pump installation easy by identifying the biggest obstacles to heat pump adoption. This will include those that result in high levels of delays or unexpected costs to householders, or which stop people on their heat pump journey entirely.

Identifying points of friction will enable us to explore where we should focus our efforts to make the heat pump journey easier, particularly if we identify obstacles that could be overcome by creating a novel intervention. Raising the profile of interventions, or contributing to the evidence base of issues, could also be used to help influence policy decisions by synergising with the efforts of other industry stakeholders. We think there could be a role for Nesta in creating shared learnings and initiating wider change by convening industry stakeholders, building on the efforts of others to make installing heat pumps easier.

Improving the experience of householders during their journey to installing a heat pump has been the focus of many installers, and many have also documented the array of barriers faced during this process. Some of the barriers have been addressed by changes in policy, such as the removal of the one metre rule for heat pump placement in England. However, there is still progress to be made in terms of making the installation process easy for each homeowner, especially because some barriers are only encountered by some people (such as requiring planning permission).

As we found with our recent project on investigating and addressing policy barriers in home decarbonisation, we believe that Nesta is well-placed to systematically map frictions in consumer heat pump journeys and help prioritise them based upon their impact. Our reputation as a trusted voice will help us convene industry stakeholders and start to build a comprehensive understanding of who faces barriers, their impact, and what we can potentially do to alleviate them.