There are 1.4 million homes in Wales, responsible for 11% of its overall carbon emissions. With 90% of existing Welsh homes predicted to remain in use by 2050, retrofitting homes to improve energy efficiency, and enable the switch to low-carbon heating, will be needed to meet Wales’ carbon emission reduction targets.
The Senedd’s Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee has been investigating the decarbonisation of Wales’ housing. Firstly it looked at progress across different housing sectors, where the Committee found the Welsh Government’s focus had been on decarbonising social housing. From that, it identified ‘privately-owned homes’, which make up over 80% of Welsh housing, as a priority area to be explored.
The Committee considered the current approach to decarbonising private rented and owner-occupied housing, retrofit targets for the sector, and Welsh Government action. It undertook a public consultation, took oral evidence from stakeholders and the Minister for Climate Change, and commissioned the Senedd’s Citizen Engagement Team to conduct interviews with private landlords and homeowners.
It published its report Decarbonising the private housing sector on 28 February 2023, with the Welsh Government responding in April. Senedd Members will soon be debating its findings. This article looks at what the Committee found, and how the Welsh Government responded.
Focus on social housing
In 2019 Better Homes, Better Wales, Better World (‘the Jofeh Report’), set out a number of recommendations and actions to decarbonise existing Welsh housing. The then Minister for Local Government and Housing, Julie James MS, said it made for “sobering reading”. The Welsh Government launched the ‘Optimised Retrofit Programme’ (‘ORP’) in 2020 “to test a new approach to decarbonising Welsh homes, based on the recommendations of the Jofeh report”. It’s aimed at the social housing sector, but is expected to provide an evidence base for longer-term cross-sector retrofit strategy.
The Minister said this focus on social housing is where the Welsh Government has “most ability to set direction and influence”, and supports a testing and learning approach to decarbonisation.
Private housing progress “insufficient and ineffective”
The Committee heard private housing described as “the elephant in the room” for reaching the Welsh Government’s target of net-zero by 2050. It was also told the Welsh Government’s focus on social housing had come at the expense of progress in the privately-owned sector, and that the Welsh Government cannot afford to wait for the ORP outcomes to take action.
Stakeholders emphasised the need for a long-term strategy and/or plan for decarbonising the housing sector. The Committee called on the Welsh Government “to rise to the challenge”, and provide stronger strategic direction to help drive progress in the privately-owned sector. It recommended a number of actions to achieve this.
In response, the Minister highlighted the Welsh Government’s “long term national strategic commitments” on decarbonisation in its Net Zero Wales plan, as well as its Net Zero Skills plan.
The Minister drew attention to the independent ‘Decarbonisation Implementation Group’, which is “setting up and implementing a residential housing decarbonisation route map for Wales”. The Minister said this will include consideration of key milestones and targets for the privately owned sector. However, this work is in the initial stages, with no timetable for delivery given.
Existing support “fragmented”
Current energy efficiency measures for the privately-owned sector were also explored by the Committee. These included the Warm Homes Programme (WHP) (energy efficiency improvements to certain households through the Nest scheme), the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Dr Donal Brown, Sustainable Design Collective Ltd, told the Committee that current support is a “scattergun approach”:
There are different pots of money serving different purposes and, actually, there’s a lack of bringing these funding sources together in an integrated way to solve problems for people.
The Welsh Government consulted on the next iteration of the WHP in early 2022, but hasn’t yet published a response. The Committee was “deeply frustrated” by the delay, saying it “does not bode well for the timely launch of the Nest replacement scheme”. According to the Minister the consultation response will be published “shortly”, alongside a policy statement and a ‘Review and Recommendation Report’. The Minister intends the Nest replacement scheme to focus first on the “least thermally efficient low-income households”.
Energy efficiency standards required to drive action
Alongside incentives, the Committee said a long term regulatory approach is needed to drive energy efficiency measures in privately-owned housing.
The private rented sector, representing 16% of Welsh housing, already has such standards, the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES), set by the UK Government (as ‘energy’ is a reserved matter). However, the Committee heard these are “a long way off” what is needed to achieve energy efficiency targets. Whilst the UK Government consulted on increasing the standards back in 2020, no decision has been made, with the Committee saying this left the sector in “limbo”.
There are no equivalent standards for owner-occupied housing (approximately 900,000 homes in Wales). The Committee therefore questioned how improvements can be achieved without such measures. The Minister said she supports increased and expanded MEES “in principle”:
… provided that sufficient financial support (e.g. grants and interest free loans) is also provided by UK Government to assist with meeting the costs of improvements in order to ensure that those most in need are supported and appropriate retrofit measures are actually installed.
Compliance and enforcement of such standards were discussed by the Committee, as well as local authority resource to deliver this.
"An inordinate amount of work to do"
Topics such as data-gaps, public engagement, advice and support, supply chain skills and financial incentives were also explored by the Committee, and the range of stakeholders who contributed written and oral evidence.
In his Chair’s foreword, Llyr Gruffydd MS acknowledged current cost-of-living pressures, and the daunting prospect of retrofit investment for homeowners. He urged the Welsh Government to act faster on financial solutions to ensure retrofit is within reach, “so that all homes in Wales can begin the journey towards decarbonisation”.
On 3 May, the Senedd will debate the Committee’s report. You can watch live on Senedd TV.
Article by Lorna Scurlock, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
