Reaction to the termination of the Green Homes Grant

Reacting to the end of the Green Homes Grant, Nick Molho, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group, said: “The premature end of the Green Homes Grant is a significant disappointment. Improving energy efficiency and slashing heating emissions from the UK’s homes is a vital, foundational step on the journey to achieve net zero emissions. It is also one of the most promising avenues to create jobs in the near-term as the UK economy recovers from the impact of the pandemic. There are many reasons for the difficulties encountered by the Grant, a key one being the lack of an adequately skilled supply chain, itself caused by the absence of a long-term policy on energy efficiency and low carbon heat for many years now.”

Nick Molho added: “Beyond the funding provided to local authorities for low income households, the Government must rapidly provide a new, long-term solution for ‘able to pay’ homes. This must include urgent investment to develop energy efficiency and low carbon heat installation skills across the supply chain, binding regulatory standards to require all UK homes to operate at low levels of carbon emissions by 2035, and targeted fiscal or funding incentives to make it attractive for home owners to green their houses. An ambitious Future Homes Standard policy will also be essential to ensure all new homes are ultra-low carbon from the outset. Without a detailed and long-term policy to drive low carbon investment in homes and buildings, the UK will simply not be able to put itself on a pathway to net zero emissions.”