The transition away from using gas at home may not yet be fully underway, but the sale of gas cookers is plunging, according to research by environmental lobby group Natuur en Milieu.

Last year, gas hobs accounted for just 27% of the new cookers sold to Dutch consumers, compared with 42% in 2017. The sale of heat pumps to replace gas central heating boilers was also up 27%, the organisation said.

‘Things are changing in the kitchen and gas is out,’ spokesman Rob van Tilburg said. ‘The next step is now central heating. People who now buy a gas boiler are stuck with gas for the next 15 years. So it is important that local councils give people clarity about plans to make their neighbourhoods more sustainable.’

The Dutch government plans to completely phase out the use of gas in private homes by 2050. Last year the government dropped the requirement that all new homes be connected to the gas grid.

Local authorities have until 2021 to draw up plans to disconnect homes from the gas grid on a district by district basis.