Climate Emergency: We Must Insulate Britain

Aim

29 million houses are in urgent need of insulation to help tackle the climate crisis. We demand the government get on with the job!

Insulate Britain has inspired ordinary people to take extraordinary action, to protect our country from climate breakdown and end fuel poverty. 

We are scared: our livelihoods are at risk and the futures of our children are uncertain.

The climate crisis is a threat to all: we demand the government get on with the job!

WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED SO FAR...

Over the last few weeks, Insulate Britain successfully propelled the true scale of the Climate Emergency into the lives of the British public through sustained, peaceful, disruptive and highly impactful actions on major roads in the South East of England.

The climate crisis has been reported across mainstream media, making headlines and primetime slots every single day for the past week; such coverage is unprecedented in the UK.

Senior government ministers including Priti Patel, Kwasi Kwarteng and Boris Johnson are taking notice of the campaign. While Kier Starmer announced Insulating homes will be a Labour government's "national mission". 

Insulate Britain demonstrated how the power of fewer than 100 individuals can drive meaningful change. Our campaigners have shown dignity and resilience despite abusive and often violent behaviour from the police and the general public. 

Despite threats of prison sentences, loss of assets and violence, we are more determined than ever to maintain this momentum and achieve our demands.

This is the strength and impact of civil disobedience. Disruption gets attention. Attention creates change.

WE HAVE SUPPORT FROM KEY FIGURES...

Baroness of Moulsecombe, Caroline Lucas and Natalie Bennet have spoken publicly in support of Insulate Britain and praising their actions. 

“I applaud these brave people for taking a stand on this critical issue” - The Baroness of Moulsecombe. 

The demands have engaged the construction industry, winning their support with the simple and achievable strategy to Insulate Britain.

"To meet the government’s own legal obligation of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, we must undertake a massive and holistic retrofit of UK homes. This has been advised in numerous reports to the government and the UK will not meet our climate obligations without updating our buildings.’

The Insulate Britain campaign is highlighting one aspect of the housing crisis in this country. The warnings have been given and the science is clear, we must act now. Any more delay is simply irresponsible.

Around 15 to 20 per cent of the UK’s CO2 emissions are currently generated from heating homes, while, according to research by thinktank Onward, 900,000 to 1.3 million jobs could be created in low carbon heating and energy efficiency if the government followed advice given by the UK Committee on Climate Change.” - Architect Climate Action Now Group, ACAN 

Lord Jonny Oates - Liberal Democrats, Spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change said: 

“Rather than think up new laws to prevent protests by Insulate Britain why doesn’t the government just, well, get on with insulating Britain. It would be far more effective in stopping protests not to mention addressing the climate emergency.“ 

George Monbiot, Author & Columnist said: 

"History will vindicate the people putting their liberty on the line to try to stop the collapse of our life support systems. Please help to fund this courageous movement." 

WHY INSULATION? 

Nearly 15% of the UK’s total emissions come from heating homes. Pound for pound insulating homes makes the most effective contribution to reducing carbon and providing meaningful jobs of any environmental measure. 

29 million houses are in urgent need of insulation if we’re going to tackle the climate crisis. The government has no plan, they aren’t listening, and they certainly haven’t taken any action.

Each year in the UK, hundreds of thousands of families are forced to choose between heating or eating - cold children or hungry children, and many thousands die because they are too cold.

The UK needs a nation-wide programme to upgrade almost every house. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) 2018 report, Scaling Up Retro fit 2050, advises that nearly every home in the UK needs to be upgraded with energy efficiency measures. That is 1.5 homes per minute to the year 2050. 

Currently, the UK Government does not have a robust long-term national strategy with a funding mechanism in place to retrofit our homes. 

Please read the more in depth technical summary. 

Our demands to the UK Government are simple, achievable and utterly necessary in the face of the climate catastrophe: 

1: That the UK government immediately promises to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain by 2025;

2: That the UK government immediately promises to produce within four months a legally binding national plan to fully fund and take responsibility for the full low-energy and low-carbon whole-house retrofit , with no externalised costs, of all homes in Britain by 2030 as part of a just transition to full decarbonisation of all parts of society and the economy.

HOW YOU CAN HELP US SUCCEED 

Your donation will keep this campaign’s impact and momentum going so the UK Government will meet our demands and make a meaningful statement to cut carbon emissions and end fuel poverty by insulating Britain’s leaky homes. 

This is why we need YOU. To keep the ball of direct action for a better future rolling. To keep the Insulate Britain campaign alive. 

Your money will go towards…

• Movement building
• Non-violent direct action training
• Travel & accommodation
• Back office costs
• Campaign materials & equipment

(All money raised will be used for purposes that do not break the law.)

Hear from the people behind Insulate Britain…

Your donations will be directly supporting the work of these ordinary people who are making huge sacrifices to demand Government action on the climate and fuel poverty crisis.

• Insulate Britain spokesperson Tracey, a full-time mother from Milton Keynes said: “We’re more scared of what will happen when the climate crisis causes the breakdown of law and order, than we are of injunctions and prison. The government is focussing on us rather than what’s coming down the road. They need to face up to reality.
  
  “If our government really wants to do something for hard-working families it should act decisively to insulate Britain’s homes. It will help people with rising energy bills, prevent 8,500 fuel poverty deaths this winter and cut carbon emissions in the most cost-effective way possible. Come on Boris: get on with the job!”
   
• Liam Norton, an electrician said:“You can throw as many injunctions at us as you like, but we are going nowhere. You can raid our savings and confiscate our property. You can deny us our liberty and put us behind bars. But that is only shooting the messenger. The truth is that this country is going to hell unless you take emergency action to stop putting carbon into the air.”
  
  
• Emily, 22 a student from Manchester said: “I’m terrified about what’s coming down the road, particularly after the floods, storms and wildfires we’ve seen in Europe and Canada this year. I’m worried about what happens when we run out of food and society begins to break down. I feel like the government isn’t acting fast enough and won’t be able to protect us.
  
  Insulating our homes is the most basic first step - it will get emissions down, create jobs and help families in fuel poverty, that’s real levelling up. The Government knows what needs to be done. They just need to get on with it.”
  
  
• Revd Sue Parfitt from Bristol: “Many people will ask why a 79 year old Anglican Priest is sitting in the road, causing disruption and how can I justify participating in such actions? I simply feel called to do everything in my power to protect God's planet, his creatures and the people. If we are successful in persuading the government to do what is necessary, the actions I’m taking today will help to prevent a much greater harm - no less than the destruction of everything we hold dear.”
  
  
• Tim Gough, an architect and academic and a spokesperson for Insulate Britain said: “There’s a growing policy gap between where we need to be on climate and where we’re heading. A national retrofitting strategy could help fill that gap. Properly insulated housing could reduce heating bills to zero for many people and reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by around 15%.
  
  The cost of doing this ambitious programme for all UK homes would be around £100bn or 3.5% of GDP per year over eight years, but industry research has shown costs would fall as the market for deep retrofits takes off so this is likely an overestimate.The social benefits would be considerable - lower fuel bills, less reliance on imported gas, increased property values, millions of proper jobs created and cutting the annual rate of fuel poverty deaths from 8,500 to zero.”

This project successfully funded on 28th October 2021