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Investigation launched into ‘greenwashing’ in gas industry [1]
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Date: 2023-10
The competition regulator has launched an investigation into gas boiler manufacturer Worcester Bosch over concerns it has been misleading customers with “confusing or inaccurate green claims”.
The announcement by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) follows openDemocracy’s investigation last month that revealed British Gas sales advisers were misleading customers by telling them the Worcester Bosch boilers it installed were “hydrogen ready” and that “all the country will be hydrogen eventually”.
On the back of that story, more than 1,400 openDemocracy readers signed our letter to the regulator, which enforces consumer protection law, urging it to investigate greenwashing by the gas industry over hydrogen.
The CMA said its investigation would focus on whether marketing claims by Worcester Bosch about its so-called “hydrogen-blend ready” boilers “may mislead shoppers into thinking they are more environmentally friendly than they are”.
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Many companies making and installing gas boilers have promoted them as “hydrogen-blend ready” or “hydrogen prepared” when in reality they are just regular boilers. All boilers sold since the mid-1990s have been legally required to be capable of running on a blend of natural gas and up to 23% hydrogen.
There are no fixed plans for supplying hydrogen to homes and the government has signalled that hydrogen is unlikely to ever fully replace gas.
One British Gas adviser also told us hydrogen would cut energy bills, which is untrue. And they gave misleading advice about heat pumps – including falsely claiming they are unsuitable for four-bedroom homes.
The CMA said today it had also written to 12 other businesses that sell “hydrogen-blend” boilers to warn them they could be breaching consumer protection law and to remind them of their legal obligations. It declined to name those companies at this stage.
George Lusty, senior director for consumer protection at the CMA, said: “Businesses need to be clear about the environmental credentials of the products they’re selling. This is especially important for heating products like home boilers, which are an expensive and long-term purchase.
“We set out our concerns earlier this year about businesses marketing boilers as ‘hydrogen-blend’. We’ll now be scrutinising green claims from Worcester Bosch to see if they mislead shoppers. In the meantime, we’ll continue to keep a close eye on practices in the sector.”
The CMA said its investigation into Worcester Bosch will look at several marketing practices including the use of:
Labels or text stating that Worcester Bosch’s boilers can run on a blend of 20% hydrogen and natural gas, which may give the impression this is a special feature despite all boilers in the UK being legally required to operate this way since the mid-1990s.
Information and messaging on the use of hydrogen for home heating in the UK – despite this not currently being available and its introduction being potentially years away and dependent on future government decisions.
Descriptions and information about the environmental benefits of ‘hydrogen-blend ready’ boilers which may falsely suggest that these boilers will reduce a household’s carbon footprint.
Worcester Bosch had claimed on its website until recently that hydrogen “is what the government will be introducing into the UK gas grid” and “the UK will, eventually, switch from natural gas to 100% hydrogen”. In response to questions from Sky News, the company removed the statements from the website.
The gas industry is promoting hydrogen as the replacement for gas in homes despite an analysis of 32 independent studies concluding it would be inefficient, costly and resource-intensive.
In June, then energy security secretary Grant Shapps said hydrogen is “unlikely to be the way forward” for home heating.
A spokesperson for Worcester Bosch said: “We are in receipt of notice of investigation from the CMA and are assisting them in full with provision of information as requested.”
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/competition-markets-authority-gas-industry-hydrogen-boilers-worcester-bosch/
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