Heat Pumps have been identified by Government as a vital technology to reduce the carbon emissions associated with heating buildings. In 2019, the UK government set a legally binding target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and in 2020 launched a Ten Point Plan to achieve this, which includes a target of 600,000 heat pumps by 2028.
Heat pumps are low carbon source of heat energy. They operate by capturing heat from outside air, concentrating it and delivering it inside your property.
The best analogy is that a heat pump is like a fridge in reverse. They consume electricity but deliver between 2.5 and 4 units of heat for every unit they use, depending on conditions. They are low carbon and have the potential to become lower still as the UK electricity grid decarbonises. They can even be effectively zero carbon if you use a green electricity tariff.