The government may abandon its policy that landlords must upgrade their homes' energy performance certificates to at least a C rating by 2028.

The scheme has been publicised for a number of years, but according to the BBC, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to announce that there will be no new energy efficiency regulations for homes in the coming days.

This is despite the fact that the government has launched a grant scheme to help landlords upgrade their properties.

The plan to phase out off-grid gas boilers could also be extended from 2026 to 2035, but the phase-out target is only 80 per cent.

The announcement comes after the Prime Minister claimed that "Britain leads the world on climate change".

Dan Wilson Craw, deputy chief executive of campaign group Generation Rent, said on Twitter's predecessor 'X' that the announcement would leave millions of renters living in inefficient homes and unable to afford rent.

He wrote: It would be a terrible move - 1 in 4 private renters are in fuel poverty and often qualify for insulation grants.

Weak provision means more people will continue to suffer unaffordable bills, which is also politically unreliable - the worst-ventilated private rented homes tend to be in northern towns and cities.

In addition to housing, the government may delay the ban on petrol and diesel car purchases from 2030, as promised in 2020, to 2035.

At the same time, the government will not introduce new taxes to discourage flying, measures to encourage car-pooling, or recycling measures with separate bins for different types of recyclables.