Is the government doing enough to incentivise households to go green?

The government’s decision on Thursday to reduce the electric car grant available to households by £500 and restrict it to vehicles on sale for under £35,000 has provoked dismay from the automotive industry – but it has also raised concern about how serious ministers are about creating incentives for households to opt for low or zero carbon technologies.

The car grant reduction comes in a context of apparent retreat from various other programmes also designed to encourage pro-environment decisions.

The £2bn Green Homes Grant – vouchers of up to £5,000 for homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes – was introduced last summer, with the chancellor Rishi Sunak boasting it would help make over 650,000 homes more energy efficient.