Gov has choices

They have refused to go down the 'stick' route of putting in a ban date for installations of fossil boilers

All they have left is the carrot. And now this!

The Carbon budgets are going to look shaky if they pull the rug from under one of the biggest sources of emissions removal 😩

🙃🤕

Yes I agree with that. And I’m always ready to be pleasantly surprised, which is a triumph of hope over experience. Let’s see the details, but it’s also important not to reserve criticism until after decisions are set in stone. That’s just bad campaigning

Sure but this is a case of picking the most perverse outlier and using it to justify scrapping rather than improving an important policy. Obviously if they were announcing improvements to the cost efficiency in a way that won’t undermine the outcomes I’d be celebrating not complaining 🤷‍♂️

E-bikes that are adequate car substitutes for families simply do cost £1000s so if you’re going to make those e-bikes ineligible for salary sacrifice then you urgently need to incentive their uptake with a different policy mechanism. That’s not on the cards though so this is straightforwardly bad

100% this. It’s hard to imagine who is going to be using a heat pump grant that is only available to people who cannot afford to buy a heat pump

I am also really worried about the potential mismatch between people in fuel poverty and heat pumps.

They massively reduce carbon emissions of households who can already afford to heat their homes to a decent level, and also often save them money.

Personally I’d like to see more direct public spending on subsidizing e-bikes for everyone via simple grants. This would deliver incredible socioeconomic returns on investment, and be more equitable than tax breaks for high earners. Cities need delivery riders on e-bikes not mopeds etc

It’s also at some level green industrial strategy because investing in the industries we need more of by channeling public and private money towards them creates and sustains jobs, builds workforces, and drives experience curves which in turn tends to drive down the costs of clean technology

One can certainly argue that’s not the most equitable policy framework because it means financial benefits flowing to higher income households to steer them towards lower environmental impact purchases and behaviours. But you do need to be clear what your alternative strategy would be if not this

The luxury of opposition really helps car brain to sustain and indulge its delusions

The Irish cycle to work scheme is a salary sacrifice model and has a higher rate for cargo bikes vs standard bikes (3k euro for cargo bikes, half that for standard bike). There are a couple of brands that offer cargo bikes specifically priced to fit the scheme