District heating commitments not enough
The commitments to district heating in the programme for government do not go far enough to ensure all Scots have warm homes, the Scottish Greens have said.
In her plans for the year, Nicola Sturgeon announced a Heat Networks Bill and a consultation on new buildings regulations.
Responding, Scottish Greens environment and energy spokesperson Mark Ruskell said:
“£30m for innovative low carbon heating projects is a flash in the pan, not the kind of transformational change Scotland needs, and which I called for this summer.
“Heating our buildings accounts for half of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, a quarter of all homes in Scotland are in fuel poverty.
“The Scottish Government should be committing to massive expansion of low carbon heat networks and dramatically reduce emissions from heating by retrofitting inefficient homes and bringing forward regulations on new buildings now.
“The Scottish Green New Deal, which we launched last week, proposes more ambition on this including a programme of deep retrofits and the requirement all new homes meet passivhaus or other net-zero standards. The climate emergency requires an emergency response, not tinkering round the edges.”