In a letter sent on 17th February ahead of the Budget, UKGBC, alongside 10 NGOs, think-tanks and green organisations calls on Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to deliver on a green recovery and not jeopardise progress by  withdrawing spending on Green Homes Grants.

The letter comes after it was revealed that any unspent funding from the first tranche of the Green Homes Grant programme will not be rolled over to 2021-22, meaning 95% of the £1.5bn allocated to the scheme will be lost.

As stated in the letter, a well-executed, long-term green homes programme could support 190,000 green jobs to 2030 across the UK – concentrated in areas that need them most – while reducing household energy expenditure by £7.5bn per year, particularly benefiting families most encumbered by high energy bills and vulnerable to cold and damp homes.

As well as UKGBC, the letter is supported by:

  • Architects’ Climate Action Network
  • Campaign against Climate Change
  • E3G
  • Friends of the Earth
  • Green Alliance
  • Greenpeace UK
  • National Energy Action
  • National Trust
  • New Economics Foundation
  • Possible

Julie Hirigoyen, Chief Executive at the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) said:

“This really is a shocking U-turn from Government at a time when it claims to be prioritising a much needed green recovery. Retrofitting UK homes is a no regrets policy that delivers high-quality jobs across the country, reduces costs to the NHS, lowers energy bills, and fights the climate crisis – all at the same time. Stripping out this funding will severely knock business confidence in the energy efficiency industry yet again – and signal a regressive intent when we desperately need to be ramping up climate action.”

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