When politicians reassure us they are ‘laser focused’ on achieving Net Zero by 2050 be careful, be alert, because (like a good illusionist) they’re practicing deliberate misdirection, switching your attention onto the wrong target. Climate change needs immediate action not a “pragmatic transition" to net-zero by 2050. Translated, "pragmatic" means little or no action.
A few reminders on where the climate is at. Globally, each month from June 2023 to January 2024 was the hottest instance of that month, ever. Last year, 2023, saw the planet exceed 1.5 degrees of warming for the first time. The combined policy pledges of global governments puts us on a trajectory of two to three degrees of global warming - way beyond the Paris targets and enough to dangerously and permanently damage food and water security, ecosystems and human health. In order to ‘merely’ hit 2 degrees of warming, we need to drop global emissions by 50%, relative to today, not by 2050, but by 2030. That’s just six years away. It was against this backdrop that our Prime Minister recently decided to issue more North Sea drilling licenses and delay the phasing out of new petrol engine cars, while sincerely reassuring us he was committed to “pragmatically” achieving Net Zero by 2050.
How can this change? How can we curb our addiction? A large part of the answer is contained in two words: Electrify Everything. That means electrifying all the ways we use hydrocarbons including our power production, heating systems, road and sea transportation, aviation, fertilizer production, steel and concrete production and many other areas besides. There are ways to electrify all these areas, some easy, some hard. But the easiest and most straightforward domain to electrify is that of our homes, in particular our heating systems and cars. By doing this we’ll address a huge portion of national CO2 emissions: domestic home heating accounts for around 21% of emissions and domestic transport accounts for a further 9% of UK emissions so fully addressing these two areas will drop our emissions by up to 30%.
In the UK, the general assumption is that most consumers won’t voluntarily scrap their internal combustion engine (ICE) cars and gas boilers until they’re ready to. But what does really mean? And while governments can mandate the phase-out of gas boilers and ICE cars and offer subsidies on heat pumps, it would be politically risky and economically ruinous to do so too quickly. So our collective response to the imperative of immediate action ends up being… fairly minimal action. While EVs are becoming more popular among the early adopters there are huge numbers of people who could be candidates for new clean tech but don’t get it for a range of reasons: ignorance, a missing sense of urgency, uncertainty, belief in untrue negative myths, lack of a concerted strategy on public charging networks, belief that a "hydrogen ready" boiler is a green choice, etc. We need to change this state of affairs. Key actors need to be able reach, target and segment the right audience at the right time, with the correct product, at the right price and communicated with a message that chimes whether that message be public information or commercial marketing and adverting. In turn that requires high quality market research.
And this is where Electrify Research comes in (thank you for your patience!). Our aim is to collect and track usage and attitude (“U&A”) data on homeowners in the UK, USA, France and Germany with regard to the key technologies of heat pumps, EVs, rooftop solar and batteries. We provide valid and representative insights into homeowner ownership, product awareness, and pre-disposition to change. We help identify growth opportunities, clarify who to target, when, with what and how. We reveal perceptions around the benefits and drawbacks of different technologies, we show the barriers to and drivers of change. For example, do homeowners' views on climate change impact their views on EVs and heat pumps? Are they excited or fearful of the prospect of home electrification? What do they see as the pros and cons of different technologies? What are the barriers in the way of those who do actually want to switch? Are switchers’ plans firm or vague? How can we identify homeowners who are primarily cost driven versus those who can both afford and want to respond to their eco principles? How does climate scepticism impact on intentions to go electric? How widespread are beliefs in the many negative myths that circulate about the electric alternatives? And who buys in? Are trends changing? How rapidly? Which countries are leading the way, and which are laggards? Who comprises the key groups and how do they differ from one another? There are so many questions that our data can help to answer.
We are living in a critical moment in history, where our actions will determine the fate of future generations and our planet. We cannot afford to wait passively for 2030 or 2050 (only to find out our governments have let us down) and we cannot hold out for a miracle. We need to act now. We need to electrify everything and our homes and cars are the easiest things to do first and fast. Whatever happens, all homes will need to go 100% electric, eventually. The question is, how long will eventually take? As with any products category, it is only with good consumer data that adoption can be optimized. There are so many interested actors: governments looking to decarbonize, banks aiming to green their loan book, utilities seeking higher electricity sales and points of differentiation, OEMs looking to boost sales of heat pumps and EVs, pressure groups and academics in search of better evidence to bolster arguments and homeowners keen to make changes (even if relatively clueless on how). There are currently too many assumptions made about consumers, and there’s not enough solid data, knowledge and understanding. We hope to change that in a way that gives instant access to current data and back data, insights based on huge samples provided at very economical costs. If you are interested in finding out more about our unique data, contact me, ben.marks@electrifyresearch.co.uk. I will be happy to answer any questions and provide demonstrations of our data and dashboards.