Campaigners call for increased funding for energy efficiency
● Poll shows strong support for increased investment
Campaigners have called for an increase in funding for energy-efficiency measures in Scotland’s homes as a poll shows strong support for the move.
WWF Scotland urged ministers to boost investment in improving cold and damp housing in order to slash fuel poverty and help meet climate change targets.
A Onepoll survey of 1,000 Scots commissioned by the environmental charity found 69 per cent agreed the Scottish Government should increase spending on improving home energy efficiency, with a further 87 per cent backing an end to cold homes in Scotland by 2025.
WWF Scotland has united with health, housing and anti-poverty organisations to back funding for energy efficiency being increased to £190 million, with a total of £4.5 billion of public funds being spent between now and 2025 through subsidised loans, grants for the fuel-poor and other schemes.
The group highlights that while the Government’s draft budget for 2017-18 proposes a year-on-year increase in spending on fuel poverty and home energy efficiency to £114m, it falls short of the £119m spent in 2015-16. WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: “Improving energy efficiency will help lift people out of fuel poverty and improve their health, stimulate the economy, create jobs and cut our climate change emissions.
“The Scottish Government already has all the powers it needs to improve the quality of the homes we live in.
“We now need to see a commitment from the Scottish Government that it will put in place funding and policies to support all homes to reach the energy performance certificate band C standard by 2025.
“Currently nearly 748,000 households in Scotland are living in fuel poverty. As we move into 2017 the results of our poll show the majority of Scots believe this isn’t good enough and want to see more being done to end the scourge of cold, damp homes.”
Royal College of Nursing Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said: “Far too many of our homes are still cold.”
“Improving energy efficiency will help lift people out of fuel poverty and improve their health, create jobs and cut our climate change emissions”
LANG BANKS
WWF Scotland