New research from Fair Fix, the boiler engineer experts, reveals that the carbon footprint caused by heating homes in England has increased by as much as 5.9% across some areas of the nation. 

Fair Fix has estimated the amount of carbon emissions created by heating England’s homes in 2021 and 2022 to see how well the country is managing its carbon footprint. The calculation is based on an estimated carbon footprint for the average home, multiplied by the country’s entire dwelling stock. 

It is estimated that heating a single home for a year creates 2,806kg of carbon emissions. In 2022, England’s dwelling stock increased by 1% to total 25.2 million homes. As a result, as a nation we created an estimated 70.6 million tonnes of emissions, also 1% higher than in 2021. 

Regional look

The South East created the largest regional carbon footprint in 2022, emitting some 11.4 million tonnes of emissions; an annual increase of 1%. 

With emissions of 10.5 million tonnes, London’s carbon footprint also grew by 1%, as did the footprints of the East of England (7.8m tonnes), West Midlands (7.2m tonnes), and East Midlands (6.1m tonnes). 

The smallest footprint increase was recorded in the North East where total estimated emissions from heating homes hit 3.5 million tonnes, an annual rise of 0.7%. 

Worst local authorities

On a local authority level, 2022’s largest home heating footprint was found in Birmingham (1.3m tonnes), followed by Leeds (1m tonnes) and North Yorkshire (848,891 tonnes).

But the biggest increase was recorded in the City of London, where the carbon footprint increased by 5.9%. Two other London boroughs complete the three areas of biggest growth with Tower Hamlets and Brent increasing emissions by 3.1% and 2.8% respectively. 

Warwickshire’s Rugby also saw an increase of 2.8%, before London boroughs returned again with a 2.6% rise in Newham and a 2.5% rise in Hammersmith & Fulham. 

Founder of Fair Fix, Tyrone Ekrem, commented:

“England is in the middle of a perpetual housing crisis. We are a nation in desperate need of more homes. But we are also a nation that, alongside every other country in the world, needs to slash its carbon emissions or else face the end of the world as we know it. 

As we build more homes, our carbon footprint rises. So if we’re to solve our nation’s two biggest issues at once, it’s vital that we find a way of reducing the emissions created by heating our homes. 

A big part of this effort should involve replacing outdated boilers and repairing those that aren’t working to their maximum efficiency. It’s something easy that we can all do to play our part in reducing England’s carbon footprint and hitting net zero for the benefit of the world.”

Data tables 

Data tables and sources can be viewed online, here.

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