Nicola Sturgeon has set a target that all homes in Scotland should meet an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of at least Band C by 2040.
The proposed requirement is outlined in ‘Route Map to an Energy Efficient Scotland’, which was launched for consultation by the Scottish First Minister in a speech at the All Energy conference in Glasgow earlier today.
The route map proposes that all domestic properties are required to achieve an energy efficiency rating of ‘at least’ EPC C by 2040 at the latest.
Just over a third of owner-occupied homes, which account for 61% of domestic housing in Scotland, currently meet the EPC C standard.
The route map confirms that landlords of privately rented homes will be required to achieve an EPC rating of Band E from April 2020 when they let out their properties, rising to D from 2022.
All private rented properties will need to be EPC Band E by the end of March 2022 and Band D three years after that.
The consultation proposes that social landlords should be barred from letting out properties with an energy efficiency rating lower than EPC D, and seeks views on when this should apply from.
This would underpin a new target, taking account of air quality, to maximise the number of homes in the social rented sector achieving EPC B by 2032.
And the route map proposes accelerated progress on moves to tackle the homes of fuel-poor households, which it says should all achieve EPC C by 2030 and EPC B by 2040.
The document says the Scottish government has commissioned research to identify how EPCs can be improved to ensure the energy efficiency of buildings is more accurately recorded.
Sturgeon also announced £54.5 million-worth of funding to support efforts to tackle energy efficiency and fuel poverty.
The bulk of the funding (£49.5 million) will be allocated for council-run area based home energy efficiency programmes.
The remaining £5.5 million will be earmarked to support council energy efficiency and fuel poverty programmes, help building owners to develop local heat and energy efficiency strategies and support the installation by social landlords of low carbon heating systems such as air and ground source heat pumps.
The route map says the Scottish government will consult further on its plans for the non-domestic sector in 2019, which will be set out by 2020, ahead of new regulations commencing in 2021.
Sturgeon said: “The major investment in this programme highlights our clear commitment to ensuring that we tackle fuel poverty and reduce greenhouse gas emissions – helping those on low incomes as well as protecting our environment.”
Responding to the announcement, Fabrice Leveque, senior policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said the package should accelerate energy efficiency improvements but expressed disappointment at the lack of support for renewable heating.
“With uncertainty surrounding the long-term future of key policies like the Renewable Heat Incentive this is a missed opportunity to show how this programme will capitalise on Scotland’s emerging renewable heat industry.
“It is vital that the Scottish Government progresses its proposals to support district heat networks and demonstrates how the programme will support technologies like heat pumps, biomass and solar to ensure that the heat we generate is not only used in the most efficient way but is low-carbon too.
Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy UK, said: “We welcome the First Minister’s focus on tackling fuel poverty by improving the energy efficiency in homes as announced today in the Energy Efficient Scotland route map.
“Improving the energy and heating efficiency of properties will help keep bills down for customers, while also contributing to cutting carbon emissions. We look forward to working with the Scottish Government as it seeks to deliver these changes that will make a real difference for those customers most in need.”