Published by IPPR North, November 2020

Authors: Marcus Johns and Sarah Longlands

This report from the IPPR North shows that there is huge potential for economic stimulus provided by a programme of housing decarbonisation in the north of England. Not only are warmer, healthier homes with lower emissions crucial to our journey to a net zero carbon future, but they could also form a key element in the government’s efforts to ‘level up’ the North’s economy in a time of pandemic.

Many people in the North have been left behind with regional inequalities set to worsen in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Poor housing (the worst in Europe) combined with low incomes and rising unemployment have left many people with a bleak future. A new ambitious programme of decarbonising the North’s housing, starting with social housing providers, could help restart the recovery and provide a much needed plan for a specific economic intervention that contributes to the government’s much-discussed agenda of ‘levelling up’.