What UK households *really* think about net zero

What UK households *really* think about net zero

By Alex Robinson, 18th March 2025

A staggering 32% of the UK’s required emissions reductions by 2035 rely on decisions made by individuals and households, which means that homeowners have a huge role to play if we’re to get to net zero. Research shows that most people are concerned about climate change and want to do their bit. However, they don’t always know how to get started or understand what will make the most impact.

What is clear is that UK households need more support if they’re going to play their part in tackling climate change. And while Hubbub’s ten years of experience has seen the impact that can be made from behaviour change, we know that progress at the speed and scale needed requires structural change from business and government, too.

That’s why we launched Home Advantage, a study with 175 homeowners, exploring what they really think about the choices they need to make to reduce their environmental impact. We explored things like how they heat and power their homes, to the foods they eat (and how they eat them) and the things they buy and throw away.

We wanted to find out:

• What are households most, and least, willing and able to do on key net zero topic areas?  
• With this knowledge, what are the greatest opportunities for business and government to help households contribute towards net zero?

The results were both encouraging and eye-opening.

Doing our homework

With support from funders including Barratt Redrow, B&Q, Starbucks UK, TSB, Unilever UK, and Virgin Media O2, we created an in-depth research project to gather first-hand insights.

Over three months, we worked closely with our homeowners, using a combination of interviews, surveys, focus groups, conversation starters, and online discussions to understand their attitudes towards sustainability. These participants represented a key segment: households with an income above £50,000 and ‘middling’ environmental attitudes, meaning they had the potential means to make changes but were not already highly engaged in climate action. We also conducted a poll of a further 501 UK homeowners to test and validate our findings.

The Executive Summary gives a great overview, and it’s the quotes from participants that really bring the issues to life. To give you a flavour of some of the themes, and what people said:

• Cost and affordability matter. People want to act but need financial support, especially for home energy upgrades. And they need reassurance that changes will be worth it. As one participant put it: “The vast majority of people in the current financial climate are simply just trying to get by. In my life, as bad as it sounds, I’d choose environmentally unfriendly options if it meant having more money for me and my family.” (Male, 25-34)

• Trust is fragile. There’s widespread scepticism about government and business motives: "Who do you trust? That was an issue that came up for me in all the discussions. The only person that anyone seems to trust in the whole world is Martin Lewis!" (Female, 65-74)

• People want positive options, not rules. Messaging needs to focus on choice and empowerment rather than restriction: “I want to make more sustainable choices, but I don’t like being told I have to. Give me better options, show me the benefits, and I’ll make the switch myself.” (Female, 35-44)

Home economics: what businesses and policymakers can do

Home Advantage identifies 12 key recommendations for business and government. Dig into the report for the insights behind each one.

Stimulate demand and public confidence: 

1. Launch unprecedented communication and behaviour change campaigns 
2. Develop an impartial advice platform on sustainable living 
3. Businesses to raise awareness and inspire action among customers

Clean heat and home energy upgrades: 

1. Build household willingness and confidence  to make home energy upgrades
2. Improve the end-to-end experience for homeowners  making home energy upgrades
3. Tackle trust and skills gaps in the supply chain

Food waste and sustainable diets:

1. Enable households to buy more loose fruit and veg  
2. Reframe meat reduction more positively 
3. Offer more veggie options

Things we buy and throw away: 

1. Introduce legislation to help create a circular fashion economy
2. Introduce legislation to tackle e-waste by enabling more repair and reuse
3. Support the local sharing economy

The power of engagement

The Executive Summary gives a great overview, and it’s the quotes from participants that really bring the issues to life. To give you a flavour of some of the themes, and what people said:

The first points on engagement seem especially crucial to me. When it comes to sustainable choices, we’re playing a game of what Alistair Campbell memorably dubbed ‘frame, or be framed’.

We’re in a critical moment: we need to build public confidence and willingness, as well as to boost understanding of the actions we can take. This needs to happen on an unprecedented scale, with government, business, and civil society working together to tell powerful, relatable human stories of change - framing sustainability as an opportunity, not a burden.

We should use trusted messengers, meet people where they’re at and provide an accessible, central source of information – the ‘MoneySavingExpert’ of sustainable homes and ways of living.

If that resonates with you, or you’d like to see how we can work together on any other of the many findings in the report, I’d love to hear from you.

Please do take a look – this report is there to support practical action, so we hope it helps you and your organisation to take its next steps.