Skip to main content

Your web browser is out of date. Please update it for greater security, speed and the best experience on this site.

Choose a different browser

Our impact

Bringing people together to transform the energy system and tackle the climate emergency

We can tackle the climate emergency and cold homes at the same time.

We’re a charity supporting people and organisations across the UK to tackle the climate emergency and end the suffering caused by cold homes. We do this by sharing our knowledge, practical experience and policy insights.

For over 40 years, CSE has supported people to take action on energy in their homes. We help communities and local councils to understand energy issues, set priorities, and put plans into action. Our research and analysis focus on making the energy system greener, smarter and fairer.

 

 

A woman wearing a telephone heat set sits at a computer desk. She is making a phone call and smiling.

Our Impact 2022-23


Against the backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis, unprecedented energy prices and record fuel poverty levels, we continued to deliver remarkable work throughout 2022-23.

Watch the video below to find out how we progressed on our mission to tackle the climate emergency and end the suffering caused by cold homes.

Ending the suffering caused by cold homes

Our energy advice changes lives, helping improve people’s mental and physical health as well as cutting energy bills and carbon emissions.

No one should suffer a cold home. We help people stay safe and warm. Find out how…

I was in a bad way, but Jo from CSE was fantastic. She helped me through the whole thing and now I have hot water and heating after living without it for over a year – it’s been absolutely life changing. I can’t say how much she helped my life

Frank called our energy advice line in winter 2022

Compounded by the energy crisis and the cost-of-living crisis, demand for our energy advice line has increased fourfold in the last three years.

Energy advice and support impact 2022-23

19,000
People supported with bespoke energy advice
£7m
We saved people £7m collectively. This includes helping people claim benefits, install measures like new heating systems, distributing shopping vouchers and much more
£356
We helped households save around £356 each, a significant amount for those on a low income struggling to cover their energy bills

Working together to reach net zero

Our community work supports community groups and local authorities to improve their local offerings. This includes raising awareness of energy saving measures, building local net zero plans, developing community action plans and training local energy champions.

Community engagement and action impact 2022-23

7,386
We supported over 6,819 citizens and 577 professionals to change the way they think and act about energy
179
We supported community groups to take action on climate change, support their communities with energy advice or tackle fuel poverty
156
Delivering 156 CSE events and attending 309 events hosted by key stakeholders to share our knowledge and practical experience
300
We worked with over 300 local authority officers and councillors to support climate action initiatives
£723,366
We managed community grants to 60 community groups helping drive community climate action

Inspiring future generations

At CSE we’re dedicated to building a smarter, greener and fairer future for all. Through our Future Generations programme, we’re focused on educating the next generation of leaders so they can become influential energy activists in their own homes, communities and schools.

Future generations

56,000
We reached young people through our high-quality education and youth leadership programmes
48%
Of young people of colour participated, compared to 20% in previous years, making sure voices of the future represent the UK’s diverse society
1,612
in 2022-23 we worked 1,612 young people across 12 schools helping them become influential energy activists in their own homes, communities and schools

Shaping places for sustainable energy

The needs and solutions for net zero vary between places and we’ll only achieve commitment to change through bringing people together and building understanding.

Scaling up low carbon housing retrofit

Improving home energy efficiency will literally insulate people from future energy price rises, tackling fuel poverty, boosting local economies and supporting new skilled jobs in the building trades.

We’re taking on the tough but crucial challenge to scale up home retrofit services through building the supply chain, supporting self-funded home energy improvements and securing grant funding to tackle energy efficient homes for those on low incomes.

Solving the heat decarbonisation conundrum

Decarbonising UK heating is one of the most challenging pieces in the net zero puzzle. Our data analysts and software engineers build tools to identify the best solutions at building, community and city-levels.

CSE brings decades of heat mapping and modelling experience, including development of the London Heat Map and zoning techniques for Local Area Energy Planning

Policy and awareness raising

CSE works to raise awareness of fuel poverty and new ways to tackle the climate emergency through research, policy advocacy and campaigning. We’ve stimulated national policy change and development in the specific fields of:

How we measure our progress

Our legacy

Since CSE was founded in 1979 we have:

Provided high-quality, tailored energy advice to more than 380,000 local people to help take control of their energy use at home.

Trained and supported more than 75,000 people to empower them to take action on sustainable energy within their own organisations and communities across the UK.

Reached approximately 56,000 young people with our high-quality education and youth leadership programmes. We help them become influential energy activists in their own homes, communities and schools. You can read more about out history here.

Carbon dioxide emissions

3.5m tonnes
Is the estimated amount of CO2 our home energy advice work has reduced

It’s hard to measure CSE’s real impact on carbon dioxide emissions. Our work is mostly about changing policy and enabling others to take action, rather than direct carbon reduction interventions of our own.

But we think that the measures installed as a result of our home energy advice work has led to a reduction in lifetime carbon dioxide emissions of over 3.5m tonnes.

Take a look at CSE’s climate action plan

See how we’re committed to reaching net zero by 2030.