The Government has issued £500m from the Green Homes Grant and £62m from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to improve the energy efficiency of 50,000 UK homes.
The £562 million package will see more than 300 local authorities across England and Scotland fund energy efficiency upgrades, including low-carbon technology such as heat pumps.
According to official figures, domestic housing currently accounts for 25% of UK carbon emissions.
The scheme is forecast to cut more than 70,000 tonnes of carbon annually – the equivalent of the total direct and indirect emissions from around 9,000 households. It is also predicted to support around 8,000 green jobs annually and save households up to £450 a year on energy bills.
UK Business and Energy Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said:
“We are ensuring households across the country enjoy warmer homes that are cheaper to heat and emit fewer emissions, all while creating new work for local plumbers, builders and tradespeople.
This is an initial down payment on the UK Government’s plan to invest over £9 billion into eradicating fuel poverty, improving the lives and homes of low-income households.
This is yet another important step we are taking to eliminate our contribution to climate change and build back greener from the pandemic.”
In June 2019, the UK became the first economy in the world to commit to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. To realise this objective, the Government has pledged to ban gas boilers in new build homes from 2025, which are to be replaced by low-carbon technologies such as heat networks.
The Committee on Climate Change estimates that heat networks could serve 8 million customers by 2030 and provide 20% of UK heating requirements by 2050.