The Green Deal open letter in full:

Ensuring success for the Green Deal and the retrofit agenda
We are taking the unusual step of writing the same letter to all three of the main political parties, setting out our major concerns with current retrofit policy and our belief that we can only address this most urgent of challenges with a greater degree of cross party consensus, and collaboration between Government and industry.

Government’s own figures show that meeting our legally binding carbon targets requires a high level of retrofit across the UK’s 26 million domestic properties, at an average of one home per minute between now and 2050. Clearly this is a monumental task, but it also represents a tremendous opportunity: to reduce energy bills, improve health, provide jobs in the construction sector, and avoid additional costs of new generating capacity.

However, to have any chance of successfully tackling this, it will require Government – either this one, or indeed any future one, to address the following major issues:

Green Deal interest rates

The current rate of interest for Green Deal finance is in danger of acting as a major disincentive to take up, as well as minimising the extent of the measures available in a Green Deal package. Taking inspiration from the effect of recent Government intervention to support new build homes, Government should explore, with stakeholders, what options are available to reduce risk associated with providing Green Deal finance – even if this means greater intervention in the market.

Long term structural incentives

Even if Green Deal was available at a much lower cost of finance, long term structural incentives would still be needed to ensure sufficient uptake. Council Tax or Stamp Duty could be used to send a signal to consumers and the market on the direction of travel, and both could be applied in a fiscally neutral way to HMT. Regulation could also be used, in particular Consequential Improvements, which Government itself has estimated would lead to an additional 2.2 million Green Deals being taken up.

Stakeholder engagement

There needs to be a better on-going dialogue between Government and those trying to deliver the Green Deal on the ground, in order to overcome obstacles, reduce unnecessary complexity, identify future issues and learn lessons. At the very least this should take place through a high level industry advisory board co-chaired by a minister and a senior industry figure. It could also involve a more operational body, or ‘hub’, which Government has previously expressed support for.

Long-term certainty and political consensus

There is an increasing sense that the Green Deal, and indeed energy bills more generally, are being used as a political football, which is not good for confidence in the market. These challenges will affect any party, or parties, of government and very bold decisions will be required. We believe there needs to be a new consensus forged between the main parties around retrofit, to depoliticise what is ultimately a long-term challenge that it is in the nation’s interest to successfully address.

Yours sincerely

Paul King – Chief Executive, UK Green Building Council

James Cameron – Chairman, Climate Change Capital

Mark Clare – Group Chief Executive of Barratt Developments Plc

John Frankiewicz – CEO, Willmott Dixon Capital Works

Peter Hindle – General Delegate, UK, Ireland and South Africa, Saint Gobain

Ian Marchant – CEO, SSE Plc

Gene Murtagh – CEO, Kingspan Group Plc

John Sinfield – Chief Executive, Knauf Insulation

Russell Smith – Managing Director, Parity Projects & Acting Chairman of RetrofitWorks

Nigel Taylor – Chief Operating Officer, Services, Carillion Plc

Peter Walls – CEO, Gentoo