Putting these
themes on screen

In telling stories of home decarbonisation, we must acknowledge that everyone’s motivations are different. While some may be driven to try and decarbonise their homes out of a sense of duty or concern about climate change, others may do so out of a sense of aspiration as green technologies continue to become more desirable. This can be a hugely powerful tool that can be harnessed to drive positive change.

Example: Grand Designs

Aspiration and ambition quite often go hand in hand with sustainable living – whether it’s an individual upgrading their car to the latest EV model, generating their own energy via solar panels, or modernising their kitchen with a new induction cooker. 

Programmes like Grand Designs often showcase beautiful, desirable homes that are also at the forefront of innovative, sustainable building practices – like the UK’s first certified ‘Passivhaus Premium’ project in the Cotswolds, an eco-friendly house producing more energy than it uses; or the pioneering self-heating house in Buckinghamshire, covered in a blanket of soil to insulate the building.

These examples are inspiring and may be aspirational for some of our audiences, but not all of them – when it comes to offering climate-positive stories and narratives to our audiences, it’s also about aspiring to the smaller changes we can all make, and normalising climate-positive lifestyle choices as a whole.

Example: Hull Business Reaps Rewards Of Forward – Thinking Sustainability Commitment

This story is about a packaging company in Hull which has become a champion of sustainability in its local area. Springfield Solutions was initially driven to change some of its working practices by the promise of being able to cut costs, but in the last couple of years, it has embraced a commitment to combating climate change. The company installed 96 solar panels on its roof in 2021, generating a huge amount of its own energy and cutting bills by thousands of pounds, with further plans in the works. By proudly future-proofing its operations in this way, Springfield Solutions is actively encouraging other local businesses to aspire to the same standards of sustainability in the process.

The decarbonisation of our homes and the transition to a greener society is going to take significant effort, both individually and collectively. The themes of citizenship and responsibility are powerful ones and can be brought to the forefront of narratives or features focused on the green homes transition.

Example: The People v Climate Change

This BBC documentary follows a group of seven members of the British public, invited to participate in the UK’s first ever Citizen’s Assembly on Climate Change. The assembly asked 108 ordinary British people to come and learn about the science of climate change, hear talks from experts and grapple with finding climate solutions to meet our net zero targets.

The film uncovers the personal, human side of climate change; how strangers with opposing views and from very different backgrounds can connect, share and learn from each other and collaborate to find practical solutions. It highlights the power of people and community, and the impact that knowledge and understanding of the climate crisis can have when we take responsibility and make it personal. The assembly empowers the participants, many of whom went on to make significant climate-positive changes in their communities and in their personal lives, after the film had aired.

From organising together to bring solar farms to their communities, to ‘repair cafes’ run by volunteers, examples of people power are everywhere, if we look for them. There is plenty of dramatic potential to be found in communities pushing back on the climate crisis, and becoming more self-reliant in the process.

Credit: Hilary Powell

Example: Every street a power station

Artists Dan Edelstyn and Hilary Powell are on a mission to turn Lynmouth Road in Walthamstow, London, into a community led ‘power station’. Project POWER STATION aims to install solar panels on as many of the redbrick Victorian terraced houses in their street as possible, allowing residents to generate their own clean electricity, reduce their carbon footprints and save money on their bills. In addition to various local grants supporting the project, the couple crowdfunded £113,000 for the installation costs by sleeping on their rooftop for 23 nights in late November/early December 2022. Today, 16 homes have already had their solar panels installed, with plans to install further panels on at least another 14 homes. The project is a testament to the power and determination of local communities, united in a common goal. 

Some of the greatest challenges concerning the decarbonisation of our homes and the road to net zero relate to fairness, equality and justice. Ensuring a ‘just’ transition in which people in all parts of society are treated equitably and can benefit from the move to greener technology is a hugely complex issue. It is one that we as storytellers have an important job to feature, highlight and inspire action on.

Credit: Gary Trewin, Canopy Housing

Example: Mr Bates vs The Post Office

The recent ITV dramatisation of the Post Office Horizon scandal had a direct impact on government and legislation in the UK, resulting in the exoneration of more than 900 people affected. The programme was watched by an audience of more than 10 million, whose engagement and collective outrage at the scandal put immense pressure on Government. Following broadcast, another 1,000 people were encouraged to come forward to seek redress and former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells was stripped of her CBE.

Dramatisations such as this have had tangible, real-world impacts, demonstrating the power of the screen in highlighting the injustices of our world and encouraging audiences to fight for fairness.

Example: The climate activist taking the government to court over North Sea oil

In 2021, 23-year-old medical student and climate activist Mikaela Loach was granted permission by the High Court to bring a judicial review against the Government for what she alleged were unlawful tax breaks given by the Government to North Sea oil and gas companies. After doing everything she could to make changes to her own lifestyle, petitioning and campaigning, and emailing her MP ‘jillions’ of times, she felt they weren’t listening – the only option left, for Mikaela, was to take them to court.

Climate anxiety among young people worldwide has risen sharply in recent years. Over 50% of 16-25 year olds in a recent study said they felt sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless and guilty when it comes to climate change. They also reported feelings of betrayal relating to government responses to the crisis (The Lancet, Sept 2021). Weaving narratives based around stories like Mikaela’s into our TV dramas could be a powerful tool in counteracting the feelings of helplessness many young people experience when it comes to the climate crisis; encouraging them to harness hope and feel empowered to hold our leaders to account. 

Our homes are the hearts of our families. They’re the places we hope will protect and nurture our loved ones, in which we share some of our happiest memories and which often make up a significant part of the legacy we pass onto family members. Decarbonising our homes can protect our families, giving them cleaner, smarter and more comfortable places to live.

The People Vs Climate Change

Example: The People Vs Climate Change

27-year-old postal worker, Amy, is one of seven members of the Climate Assembly whose story is featured in this BBC documentary. Each of the seven subjects in the film come from differing backgrounds, with differing priorities, motivations and levels of understanding when it comes to climate change – and for Amy, her son’s health is a real concern. Throughout her experience as part of the Climate Assembly, Amy learns more about the environmental impact of the coal fire she uses to heat her home, and becomes increasingly unsettled by its potential connection to her son’s new diagnosis of asthma. Amy is motivated to make changes to her lifestyle and to protect her family, even despite concerns about the financial implications of making adjustments to her home: “If it is the coal that’s causing his asthma, then I want it gone”.

Example: Mothers from around the world demand action on fossil fuels

In 2021 a group of mothers met with Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, to demand an end to the financing of fossil fuels. Representing as many as 500 parent groups from 44 countries across the world, whose children have suffered health damage as a result of air pollution, theirs is said to be the biggest parent mobilisation on any issue in history.

The delegation of mothers from around the world, together with Dr Maria Neira, Director of Public Health at the World Health Organization (WHO), presented Sharma with a letter. They also played him a deeply moving soundscape of children, fighting to breathe.

Dr Neira said: “The day I joined the movement of mothers for clean air, I knew we would be able to turn the tide on climate change, as there is nothing stronger than the love of a mother for her children. Air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels is killing our children, and there is nothing, and I mean nothing, we won’t do to protect our children. So join us, or get out of our way, as we end the era of fossil fuels.”

Money and finance is a theme that plays a huge role in almost all of our lives. The investments that will be needed – both at a personal and a societal level – to bring about the wholesale decarbonisation of our homes are very significant. There will be no part of the green transition in which how we will fund the move towards net zero won’t play a prominent part.

Example: Coronation Street (Episode #1.10876, 13th February 2023)

Alongside some of the more dramatic and explosive storylines that British soaps are known for, our favourite family shows have always sought to reflect our real-world problems, too. The UK’s cost of living crisis is forcing many people to make difficult decisions about our most basic needs; particularly when it comes to our homes. Whether it be reducing the use of particular appliances, turning down our heating or budgeting for the weekly food shop, these very real issues have made their way onto our screens through many of our most loved TV characters. In this episode of Coronation Street, for example, Yasmeen Metcalfe finds her restaurant business struggling. With locals cutting back on dining out, trade is a lot slower at Speed Daal – and Yasmeen must resort to turning the heating in the restaurant right down, in an attempt to save more money.

Example: Leeds renters to pay extra £1.9 million after Rishi Sunak scraps energy efficiency standards 

In Leeds Central, nearly 50% of households experience fuel poverty and over half of private rented homes have an EPC rating of D or below. With government scrapping plans to upgrade all new tenancies to meet EPC band C by 2025, private renters in Leeds Central are estimated to pay £46 million more in energy bills by 2050 than they would have if the government had stuck to their original target. This will have a huge impact on a renting population already battling unaffordable bills and rising energy prices.

Soaps like Coronation Street and Eastenders are well known for reflecting the most current and pressing concerns facing audiences in our real lives. It’s easy to imagine a storyline in one of these much-loved soaps, showing the challenges faced by their characters as a result of energy-inefficient homes and fuel poverty, set against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis.

Climate change is having a clear impact on our health; a subject that we all care about, and which has a direct emotional connection to our audiences. Exploring themes around health and climate change can act as a powerful conduit to engage audiences with environmental issues. We know that fossil fuels in our homes are harming our health and this is a powerful theme that will feature in relation to the decarbonisation of our homes.

Example: Coronation Street (Episode #1.10410, 23rd August 2021)

Coronation Street has tackled a variety of climate themes through its storylines, as well as demonstrating climate-positive behaviours through its characters. In this episode of Coronation Street, 12-year-old Liam Connor suffers a serious asthma attack whilst playing football in the street, despite having had no previous asthma diagnosis. He’s rushed to hospital where his mother, Maria, and the paramedics discuss what might have brought on the attack – concluding that it could have been triggered by pollution from the vehicles on the street where he lives. Maria then goes on to confront other residents in the street about their cars and the dangerous fumes they emit. 

Example: Cooking With Gas ‘Worse For Health Than Living In Polluted City’

The latest research shows that cooking with gas is worse for your health than living in a polluted city, and can increase the risk of heart disease, cancer and Alzheimers, with children and older people at greatest risk. In a recent experiment where children were sent to school wearing air pollution monitors in their backpacks, many of them were exposed to more pollution at home in the evenings while their parents were cooking, than they were on their way to school. 

By 2025, gas boilers will be banned in new homes, meaning a big shift towards induction cookers and stoves. Presenting the real dangers of indoor pollution in our TV dramas and addressing the switch to induction hobs could form the basis of a sub-plot for any TV drama rooted in the home, as well as keeping our audiences informed about the changes coming to our homes in the near future.

We have a fascination with history and heritage. Placing the green transition and the push to reach net zero within a historical context can both inspire audiences by making it clear huge change is possible and provide its stories with more weight and meaning.

Example: National Trust property retrofit saving 64 tonnes of carbon per year

Recent research carried out by the National Trust, Historic England and leading property organisations has shown that ​improving the energy efficiency of properties built before 1919 could reduce overall carbon emissions from the UK’s buildings by as much as 5% each year. Trelissick House, an 18th Century mansion and grounds near Truro in Cornwall, is a perfect example of what is achievable when it comes to retrofitting these historic properties. In 2022, the National Trust property upgraded its old oil boilers to a 165 killowatt ground source heat pump, which now provides the building and the estate’s bookshop and cafe with 100% of its heating and hot water, all year round. As a result, the property’s carbon emissions have reduced by about 64 tonnes per year and the estate is well on its way to meeting its goal of becoming carbon net zero by 2030. 

Example: Town gas to natural gas

In the late 1960s, the UK saw a rapid household transition from town gas to natural gas, backed by a government-directed nationwide campaign. The move saw the conversion of around 40 million appliances, for 14 million customers – over a period of just eight years, from 1968 to 1976. Although we were still using fossil fuels at this time, the shift from town gas to natural gas resulted in a huge reduction in carbon emissions from the home.

The changes we need to see in our homes in order to reach net zero can feel overwhelming and unattainable, but environmental activist and writer Rebecca Solnit argues that equipping ourselves with a “historical imagination” and an understanding that “change is ceaseless”, can break that cycle. In other words – we’ve done it before and we can do it again.

Home improvement is possibly one of the most commonly seen themes on our screens and has given rise to many household formats and shows. It is also a content area in which the potential to put home decarbonisation on-screen is very clear.

Credit: Local Storytelling Exchange

Example: DIY SOS – The big build Children In Need Special

This special episode of DIY SOS for Children In Need covered a host of sustainable themes on-screen, when the team were tasked with building a new state-of-the-art, eco-friendly surf centre for Surfability, a local charity based in Swansea. Taking an old bus shelter and building from the ground up, the show was able to highlight all of the different sustainable elements of the build as they came together – including a living green roof and an air source heat pump, and the money and energy the building would save longer term as a result of these sustainable features.

Example: Neighbours band together to tackle energy bills to show how climate action starts at home

This article details how the UK’s first ever zero-carbon house, in Birmingham suburb Balsall Heath, sparked a local retrofitting revolution. Since grassroots scheme Retrofit Balsall Heath launched in 2022, 1,400 homes have signed up to have retrofitting work done and 659 homes have already been retrofitted – without residents having to spend a single penny.

There are multiple sustainable themes at play in this story; the power of community, local jobs and skills training, as well as the retrofitting process itself. With 27 million homes needing to be retrofitted with energy and carbon saving adjustments by 2050 there is a wealth of sustainable content for programme makers to dive into here, particularly in the non-scripted space.

The retrofitting and decarbonisation of our homes is going to require a huge, skilled and specialist workforce. Nesta estimates that the number of trained heat pump engineers alone will need to increase ninefold by 2030. The question of where these workers will come from and how they will be trained is one of the central human stories of the green homes transition and touches on other themes such as education, immigration, equity and aspiration.

Credit: Local Storytelling Exchange

Example: First low-carbon apprentices

At the beginning of 2024, heating company Vaillant announced that it would be partnering with a local college in Derby to invest in 10 full-time employed apprentices, to complete their first three-year Low Carbon Heating Technician Apprenticeship (LCHTA) courses. The applicants, all aged between 16 and 19, were selected from over 60 candidates and will be trained in the latest low carbon technologies including heat pumps, as well as a host of other specialisms like plumbing, bricklaying, plastering, electrics and customer service. These young apprentices will go on to form part of an important growing workforce, traiurqned in the technologies we need to decarbonise our homes.

Example: Miner’s son set to take charge of world’s biggest wind farm

This is a story about Mark, the son of a former miner now poised to run the world’s biggest wind farm – a £9 billion renewable development capable of powering one in five home UK homes, by 2026.  

With Mark’s father having worked at the coalface and Mark now working in renewables, this transition within his family from one generation to another in many ways mirrors our transition to green energy in recent years. Taking Mark’s story as an example, could there be scope here to build narratives around new green jobs, and the idea of a ‘just’ transition that doesn’t exclude or erase older generations, or those who have worked in the fossil fuel industry? Perhaps there is story potential in imagining what that interfamilial/intergenerational conflict could look like, and what the dramatic/emotional stakes might be for those characters?

Being part of broader societal change and positive action is a powerful thing. The stories we see on our screens can often directly galvanise collective action, whether deliberately or inadvertently. Placing the – sometimes seemingly mundane – details of home decarbonisation within the context of the huge societal transition to a more sustainable future can make them inspiring and imbue them with meaning.

Example: Arthur Clears The Air

Systems have been changed in the past – quickly and completely. This 1961 public information film was made by the National Coal Board Film Unit in the style of a ‘kitchen sink drama’, to inform the public about the transition to smokeless appliances. The short film shows a married couple bickering, after receiving a letter from the local authority informing them that they need to change their fireplace to take smokeless fuel. Arthur, the film’s namesake, doesn’t take kindly to being told how to heat his home and worries about the expense (though his wife explains that the council will cover most of the costs). Eventually, Arthur agrees to a new modern smokeless fire, and is quite happy with the transition. 

Few people today remember the rapid energy transitions that happened half a century ago, but a story like Arthur’s could easily be updated to a narrative about heat pumps today, to reflect the societal changes needed in the home decarbonisation space. 

Example: Succession: S3, EP 5 – “Retired Janitors Of Idaho”

Jesse Armstrong’s Emmy award-winning drama Succession might not be an obvious example of climate-positive storytelling, given the carbon rich and lavish lifestyles of its characters, but one particularly excruciating scene directly inspired large numbers of viewers to make a very big change in favour of the environment. In season three of the show, Cousin Greg’s grandfather Ewan announces that he plans to donate every single cent of Greg’s inheritance to Greenpeace. Whether Ewan’s decision is environmentally motivated or purely to spite Greg, the storyline had a tangible, real-life impact with more than 22,000 people going online to seek advice on making donations in their wills to Greenpeace.