Newspaper: British Prime Minister eases plans to ban the use of gas boilers

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to water down an earlier pledge to ban the sale of gas boilers in the UK by 2030. Concerns have been raised within his Conservative Party about the cost to consumers of green alternatives, the British business newspaper Financial Times writes.

Replacing millions of gas boilers is an important part of the UK’s strategy to become carbon neutral by 2050. Buildings accounted for more than a fifth of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions last year. The main reason behind this was heating homes and offices with natural gas.

In order for the country to achieve its climate goals by 2050, boilers must be banned from buildings by 2033, as previously calculated. However, ministers expressed concerns about the cost of alternatives such as heat pumps, which are seen as one of the few viable alternatives. A final decision is expected later this year after the government released the much-anticipated heating and building strategy.

Earlier this week, environmental groups such as Greenpeace called on Johnson to “establish concrete policies to reduce CO2 emissions as quickly as possible”. It happened after a leading report from more than 230 international scientists warned that the world is warming much faster than expected.