Market-driven approach cannot decarbonise homes – Greens call for publicly funded retrofit scheme
25 August 2021
The Green Party has backed a letter to Boris Johnson from consumer and construction industry bodies that says decarbonising homes is currently too expensive, complicated and risky [1]. Greens argue that decarbonising the UK’s housing stock cannot be left to the market, and call for a publicly funded retrofit scheme, especially for those less able to afford the changes.
Carla Denyer, Green Party spokesperson on housing and communities, said:
“The government’s market-driven approach to decarbonise homes is leaving households confused and stressed, and will not deliver results fast enough. What is needed is a publicly-funded scheme that will retrofit 10 million homes, making them warm and cheap to heat, by 2030.
“With around 14% of the UK’s carbon emissions coming from heating our homes, we cannot tackle the climate emergency without decarbonising our housing stock [2]. And those who are fuel-poor, in vulnerable circumstances or on low incomes will need particular support.
“We need to ensure that householders and tenants benefit rather than just private companies. This means homes will need to undergo a deep retrofit and have solar panels and other forms of renewable energy and heating installed. This way households will have warmer and more comfortable homes, cut their energy bills and benefit from generating a proportion of the energy they use.”
“The government must ensure an approach that is a win-win, for the climate and for residents.”
The government is soon expected to release its long-awaited Heat and Building Strategy [3] which will aim to incentivise homeowners to transition to emission-free homes by installing low carbon and renewable technologies.
ENDS
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