Latest Publications

Electric vehicles are at the forefront of the green transition, improving air quality and promoting cleaner, safer roads, but much of the policy discussion focuses on consumer uptake. This report looks at electric vehicle adoption among business fleets, and the need for better fast-charging infrastructure to promote uptake.

For many people in Britain, electric vehicles represent the most tangible aspect of the green transition, but high upfront costs mean they are disproportionately available to the richest households. This report looks at how to make EVs more affordable to poorer households, and the benefits they can offer them.

With high energy prices remaining this winter there is still a strong case for providing energy bill support. This briefing looks at the potential for reforming the Warm Homes Discount to provide more targeted and generous support to help struggling households afford energy bills.

The UK’s commitment to reaching net zero by 2050 is legally binding, yet progress towards decarbonisation of home heating remains limited. This SMF commentary reviews a timely recent report from the International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO) at UCL, on how to induce households to change their behaviour and replace their boilers with heat pumps.

Decarbonising home heat, which accounts for 14% of the UK’s carbon emissions, is essential if the UK is to achieve its target to reach net zero emissions by 2050. But current policies are falling short. This report explores what motivates landlords and owner occupiers to insulate their homes, and how to overcome the obstacles that prevent them from doing so.

As the single largest cost for millions of households across the UK, understanding the financial burden of transport is critical to decreasing poverty. Yet, unlike for energy or housing, there is no metric in place to track the cost and accessibility of transport. This report seeks to fill that gap by developing a measure to demonstrate the causes, locations and depths of transport poverty.

Despite the government’s target to reach net zero emissions by 2050, the UK’s heat pump supply chain is still in its infancy and remains much weaker than in mainland Europe or Asia. This report explores the economic and environmental benefits of making the UK’s heat pump supply chain more robust and provides recommendations for how to turn this opportunity into a reality.

The success of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has triggered significant changes in international trade and manufacturing, as other OECD governments have sought to imitate its approach. This briefing surveys international responses to the IRA to identify how the can UK take advantage of the opportunities in this new economic regime.

Up to 900,000 UK families living in heat networks (i.e. receiving energy from a source shared with other buildings) risk facing staggering increases to their energy bills, by 700% in some cases. Beyond the immediate crisis, there are long-standing issues with heat networks. In this briefing, Will Damazer sets out an ambitious plan to overhaul the heat network system and secure a fairer deal for all those living in them.