News

Sustainable Homes & Buildings Coalition calls for action to unlock the delivery of energy efficiency

Published: 21-10-2022

Along with our Coalition members, we have launched a new progress report in Parliament, which calls on Government and industry to work together to ensure the UK is to succeed in decarbonising its 29 million homes.

‘Home is Where the Heat is – Progress Report’ sheds much needed light on the importance of customer first approaches to the home retrofitting industry, by showcasing the real-life experiences of nine households from Tyne & Wear to Pontypool.

The report focuses on the first three parts of a five-phase process and provides an honest appraisal of some of the stumbling blocks and learnings experienced as we accompanied the nine households on their journey to energy efficiency. Some of the learnings are concerning but well known, such as the clunkiness of the customer journey, the confusion around funding options and issue with the supply chain.

Other insights, especially on Energy Performance Certificates and their bias towards certain solutions like Solar PV rather than newer technologies, and the benefits of digitising them need urgent action now. The report also found that EPCs are becoming an increasingly important factor when buying a home, more so than public transport, according to NatWest’s Greener Homes Attitude Tracker.

The report also emphasises the growing public support for energy efficiency, with 68%of homeowners planning to make energy efficiency improvement to their home in the next decade. It also discusses the industry supply chain, and what can be done to unlock the role of SMEs.

Delivering a home retrofit every minute until 2050 will not happen by magic. With households now massively in favour of energy efficiency, increased industry momentum to drive this forward, and SMEs standing to gain the most from the growth opportunity it presents, we along with our Coalition members have made five policy recommendations to support energy efficiency delivery this decade:

1. A public information campaign to educate the public on energy efficiency measures
2. Long-term investment signals to the market, including through local area energy planning
3. EPC reform to ensure all homes sold by 2033 are rated EPC C and above, while digitising and regularly updating EPCs to make them more useful
4. The launch of a ‘Help for Energy Efficiency Scheme’ allowing banks to provide low interest loans to households to upgrade their properties
5. The launch of an ‘Energy Saving Stamp Duty Rebate’ leveraging the trigger point of a house sale for the new owner to have a two-year window to invest in energy efficiency and be able to claim it back against its stamp duty

Our CEO Carl Arntzen said, “As a Coalition we are working together to drive change and guide the UK’s move to net zero. This latest report shares the lessons we are learning and shines a light on the amount of work and considerations required to decarbonise home heating and ensure the country reaches its net zero 2050 targets.

We hope that our recommendations are listened to and acted upon by Government and we of course remain committed and available to support the nation’s drive for climate action.”

Alison Rose, NatWest Group Chief Executive said, “Supporting households up and down the country to act on energy efficiency is essential, not just in our transition to net zero, but also to help keep energy costs down for the long-term. The Coalition is showing what can be done to deliver greener, warmer and more comfortable homes for British households in a people-centric manner.

“But, we can’t shy away from the fact that delivering energy efficiency is hard work. That is why, as well as carving out £10 billion to roll out green mortgages, we are supporting SMEs to play their part in the tremendous growth opportunity that energy efficiency represents and calling on Government and Industry to work together to kickstart a decade of delivery. I look forward to the spring Outcomes Report to see the positive impact that such interventions can have for families from Pontypool to Coulsdon.”

To coincide with the publication of the report, British Gas announced that it will offer heat pump installations for £4,999 to help more of its customers to lower their emissions.

Meanwhile, as part of NatWest Group’s industry-leading pledge of £100 billion to drive climate action and decarbonisation before the end of 2025, the bank has committed £10bn to green mortgage lending, lending £2.32bn to around 9,500 homeowners under this commitment already in 2022 through the NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Coutts mortgage brands.

Here at Worcester Bosch, we will continue to invest into the research and launch of low and zero carbon products, and progress with the training of 18,000 installers per year to support the delivery of the energy efficiency agenda.

The Coalition will also be publishing an Outcomes Report in the Spring of 2023 to report back on the outcomes of the nine retrofit pilots.

To access the report online, please click here. To learn more about the customer retrofit pilot journeys, please click here. To contact the Coalition Secretariat, please email us.