Ahead of the chancellor’s spring statement tomorrow activists from Greenpeace have given the Treasury a green makeover in a call for more support to cut the UK’s gas dependence.

Early this morning the campaigners, dressed as builders brought insulating material and stationed solar panels around the entry way whilst unfurling a banner reading ‘Get Off Gas’. As the government grapples with spiraling energy bills and how to cut our dependency on Russian gas in the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Greenpeace UK are calling on the chancellor to use the Spring Statement to fund green solutions to the issues.

Greenpeace handed in their five point plan[1] which includes calls for extra funding for quick, effective measures like heat pumps and insulation. Only 1.8% of new homes built in England last year met the top energy efficiency rating, according to a Greenpeace analysis of government data[2].

Georgia Whitaker, oil and gas campaigner at Greenpeace UK said:

“Spiraling energy bills and Putin’s war are showing we need to get off gas and get off it quickly. From our security to the cost of living to climate change, our dependence on gas is fueling crisis after crisis.

“We’re at a fork in the road, the chancellor’s spring statement is a chance to help steer us away from the energy price crisis. Instead of rolling out the red carpet for more expensive fossil fuels, Rishi Sunak needs to back measures that’ll help us build a stable, gas free future. Which means more support to prevent fuel poverty, extra backing for cheap renewables and further funding measures like insulation to cut the energy we’re wasting in our homes.”

The move comes following a letter last week by nearly 40 civil society groups including Greenpeace UK, to the chancellor, prime minister and business secretary calling for greater support for vulnerable households and for decarbonisation in the spring statement and imminent Energy Independence Plan.