Great Britain Dedicates 1 Billion Pounds to Home Insulation

In 2021, Climate Emergency Fund provided seed funding for Insulate Britain, a new UK-based collective of climate activists demanding a large-scale building insulation plan, not only for the emissions reduction impact, but also as a way to ease Britain’s cost of living crisis. The group launched a steady stream of disruptive direct actions, which generated hundreds of press hits and quickly pushed home insulation to the top of the political conversation in the UK. The success of Insulate Britain’s mobilization and its narrative impact provided the blueprint for the A22 Network, which has scaled up the model across the globe.

In February 2022, Insulate Britain announced that they had “failed” and were halting their activities. But as it turns out, that declaration was premature. In April 2022, the Labour Party announced that it was adding home insulation to its core party platform. In June, reports emerged that the Tory government under Boris Johnson was considering a home insulation plan, with one aide suggesting that it should be called “insulate Britain''. And in November, the government announced the Great Britain Insulation Scheme, which dedicated 1 Billion pounds to thermal insulation!

The narrative power generated by Insulate Britain translated into clear policy change, demonstrating once again that disruptive protest works.