THE CEO of Worcester Bosch has issued a warning over a committee's 'simplistic' proposal to ban gas boilers to tackle climate change.

The Committee on Climate Change urged the Government to ban gas boilers in new homes by 2025, in a new report.

Around a fifth of the country's greenhouse gases come from heating and other energy use in homes.

Carl Arntzen, Worcester Bosch’s CEO, said: "Although we agree with the committee that climate change needs to be tackled, it is too simplistic to suggest not connecting all new build schemes to the gas grid.

"If the whole of the country came off gas, we would need the power of around 30 nuclear power stations in this country, and currently we have eight.

"Also if we do switch to hydrogen gas then these homes without a gas connection could not be connected in the future and would miss the other benefits that hydrogen gas could deliver such as carbon free cooking as well as heating and hot water."

Mike Foster, head of Energy and Utilities Alliance, a trade association representing UK boiler manufacturers, said the UK needed to do its bit to meet climate change obligations, although the changes had to be affordable.

He added: "I think the Committee on Climate Change has made the wrong call.

"A unit of gas is just under 4p, while a unit of electricity is about 14 to 15p. There's a real impact on people's bills."

Mr Foster added that even if the UK transitions to electric boilers, much of the electricity will still come from gas power stations.

He said that the alternative is to develop low-carbon gas boilers, using fuel such as biomethane and hydrogen.

The former Worcester MP praised Bosch for being at the forefront of hydrogen boiler technology.

Robin Walker, the city's current MP, said workers at the business should not fear for their jobs, adding that the company has a bright future.