Heat pumps can cost £10,000 to install – although manufacturers say these figures could be cut in half within the next few years – and can require additional insulation work.

The concern raised by the CCC came in its assessment of the Government’s heat and buildings strategy, released last year, which outlines plans to decarbonise the country’s homes and office buildings.

Some 85 per cent of homes are heated by gas boilers, contributing to around 14 per cent of the UK’s emissions, which the Government has committed to reducing to net zero by 2050.

Overall, the CCC said the strategy was “not yet comprehensive or complete”, and failed to account for 18 per cent of the necessary emissions reduction by 2035.

It highlighted a lack of funding for energy efficiency funding to help people insulate their homes, particularly for better off households.

Cost of fossil fuels increasing

The Government has scrapped funding for energy efficiency measures outside of social housing and public buildings, in the wake of its failed £1.5 billion Green Homes Grant scheme.

Chris Stark, the chief executive of the CCC, said the importance of decarbonising homes had increased as the cost of fossil fuels had risen.

“With the shocking oil and gas price spike this is suddenly one of the most important consumer issues – most homes and offices are currently heated with fossil fuels,” he said.

The CCC called on the Government to continue with plans to move environmental and social levies off electricity bills and onto gas bills, despite the cost of gas reaching record highs.