Nesta teamed up with the Behavioural Insights Team to research how different incentives affected people’s willingness to choose a heat pump over a gas boiler. In an online experiment, we asked a sample of 8,016 homeowners to choose between buying a heat pump and a new gas boiler, in a scenario where their current boiler needed replacing.

We tested how different incentives - including a £5k subsidy, a low-cost loan and lower running costs - affected their choices.

We found that all three of these incentives increase people’s willingness to choose a heat pump, and some of them work especially well when combined together. This report looks at the figures in more detail and assesses the policy implications.

Read about phase 1 of this research project.

Read our report on how to reduce the cost of heat pumps.