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£9.5m to reduce housing’s carbon footprint in Wales
A new programme worth up to £9.5 million will reduce the carbon footprint of existing social housing in Wales, make energy bills more manageable for residents.
Part of the Innovative Housing Programme, the Optimised Retrofit Programme will fund the fitting of energy efficiency measures in up to 1000 existing homes owned by registered social landlords and councils. The Welsh Government says that the package will lead to better homes, help tackle fuel poverty and contribute to decarbonisation.
The programme will support the sector to test different approaches to reach the goal of carbon neutrality. It will include an innovation competition - opening next month - to support the piloting of innovative new solutions for retrofitting our housing stock.
The Optimised Retrofit Programme is a key part of the £45 million Innovative Housing Programme announced earlier this year, which focuses on building new carbon neutral homes using modern methods of construction, the scheme will contribute to plans to reduce greenhouse gases by 95 per cent by 2050 with an ambition to reach net zero in future.
Julie James, Minister for Housing and Local Government, said: “The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of a warm, secure and affordable home like never before. It has also shown the positive effects of reducing greenhouse gasses.
“Housing is responsible for 27 per cent of all energy consumed in Wales and 15 per cent of all demand side greenhouse gas emissions. While we have plans in place to ensure new homes are heated and powered only from clean energy sources, ensuring our existing housing stock is as energy efficient as possible is vital to if we are to meet our ambitious target of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 95 per cent by 2050.
“This scheme is essential to tackling climate change, and driving down household energy costs now and in the future. Helping people, including those on lower incomes, to reduce their fuel bills while keeping their homes warm.”
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