23 November 2023
Structured around nine recommended actions, the report recognizes that the barriers to investment in this area are not only financial in nature and include the availability of skills and qualified tradespeople in the market, supply chain capability, trusted customer advice and quality assurance procedures. The report lays out ways that Scottish Government can provide clear signals to the market and engage with the commercial financial sector to pilot new products.
Dr Ian Cochran, Lecturer in Climate Finance & Investment at UEBS, has been a member of the Taskforce since January 2022. He said: “The release of the GHFT’s first report is an important milestone as it clearly lays out the challenges facing property owners in Scotland when decarbonizing heat. Financing green heat at the required pace and scale will require a range of public and private sources of finance and a clear indication of the direction of travel on low-carbon heat via policy and regulation. The nine recommendations in the report are a clear roadmap for how Scottish Government to enable investment from property owners with an ability to cover at least part of the costs. Future work of the Taskforce will look at large-scale investments that could allow cross-subsidizing of costs and the rolling-out of solutions at the scale of entire neighbourhoods, including placed-based initiatives and district heat networks. These options will complement some of the essential subsidized support mechanisms already in place in Scotland via the Home Energy Scotland programme.”
The Green Heat Finance Taskforce was established with a remit to explore and report on opportunities to attract private finance, including identifying innovative new products and potential pilot initiatives which can support the installation of clean heating and energy efficiency measures across existing buildings. The Taskforce is co-chaired by Zero Carbon Buildings Minister Patrick Harvie, with membership comprising experts across the net zero space, including on green finance, building retrofit and on consumer perspectives.