Watchdog Warns Businesses Are Misleading People Into Buying Net Zero ‘Greenwashing’ Products

More than a third of the UK’s gas is burned to heat homes. (Joe Giddens/PA)

A report by the UK’s consumer protection regulator has found some businesses in the green heating and insulation sector are engaged in “concerning” practices that may mislead consumers into thinking products are more environmentally friendly or “greener” than they are.

On Wednesday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that it found that businesses in the sector, particularly those offering heat pumps or solar products, commonly make claims about their products’ cost-saving, environmental, and/or energy efficiency benefits.

It added that it will be carrying out further work looking into potential misleading practices in the green heating and insulation sector.

‘Greenwashing’

The CMA warned that consumers face difficulty finding and accessing reliable, trusted, and independent advice for households looking to install heat pumps as well as solar products.

For example, claims that “100 percent of their electricity bill” can be cut or that people can reduce their “heating costs by at least 60 percent and cut CO2 emissions by up to 50 percent.”

It looked at a range of evidence to understand business practices, including over 1,000 business websites.

It added that “greenwashing” and misleading messaging about hydrogen-capable boilers were of concern as they may fool consumers into thinking that these products are more environmentally friendly or “greener” than they are.

The body also found evidence, for example, of several large businesses explicitly marketing boilers as ‘hydrogen-blend’ or ‘hydrogen-ready’ which may give the incorrect impression that the use of hydrogen is imminent and that specific environmental benefits can only be obtained from these boilers and not standard gas boilers.

“We want people to have confidence when they buy green heating technologies and home insulation. It’s essential they get what they paid for and that energy efficiency and sustainability claims are fair and accurate,” said George Lusty, senior director for Consumer Protection at the CMA.

“While many businesses will be operating in the best interests of their customers, some businesses appear to be misleading people into buying their products. This needs to stop,” he added.

“We will now be exploring these concerns further, including whether to take enforcement action,” said Lusty.

Net Zero

The UK has signed into law a policy to achieve net zero by 2050 with the Conservative government setting out a strategy called “Build Back Greener” to decarbonise all sectors of the UK economy.

It faces the phasing out of petrol and diesel cars and gas boilers and calls from statutory bodies like the Climate Change Committee to cut meat by 20 percent in 2030 and by 35 percent by 2050.

According to its Heat Pump Investment Roadmap strategy, released in April, reducing the UK’s carbon emissions to Net Zero by 2050 means it must decarbonise the heating of over 30 million homes across the UK in a little over 25 years.

There are targets that want 52 percent of British homes to be provided by low-carbon sources, of which 52 percent will be from heat pumps, which run on electricity and work like a fridge in reverse to extract energy from the air or ground.

Heat Pumps

Roger Bisby is an English television presenter who runs the YouTube channel SkillBuilder and is known for his expertise in the British building industry.

In 2021, he warned in the DailyMail, that UK families who fit heat pumps often find “their electricity bills double or treble; the noisy heat pumps drive them to distraction; their house is colder; their shower lukewarm and in all too many cases they wish they could get their old gas boiler back.”

He said that few people seem to realise that “it is pointless to install a heat pump unless your house is extremely well-insulated and draught-proofed to keep it airtight.”

Bisby told The Epoch Times that attempts to regulate heat pump industries have “been fraught with problems.”

He said that appealing to people’s social and environmental consciences is “the sell.”

“I think that the consensus now is moving towards saying that they are not necessarily going to save any money over a gas boiler running a heat pump,” he said.

“By the time you have insulated your house and done all the other things, the capital investment, then it’s a very long time before you show any return on any of that and they are trying to stop them from selling heat pumps on that basis,” he added.

Costs

In May, the charity Citizens Advice estimated that the average cost of “improving the energy efficiency of a home” or “transitioning to low carbon heat” is just under £15,000.

Installing insulation can cost several thousand pounds (depending on where in the home it is installed) and an air source heat pump can be upwards of £8,000. The average price of solar panels ranges from £6,000 to £11,000.

The report highlighted that while almost two in five homeowners have over £20,000 in savings, one in two have less than £10,000, and over 1 in 10 have no savings.

To reach the government’s net zero targets almost all homes will require some level of retrofit which will mean “significant changes to almost every home” but for many homeowners, there is currently limited financial support.