The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has partnered with Digital Buildings for a new retrofit scheme to improve energy efficiency and incentivise decarbonisation.
The partnership aims to provide streamlined access to carbon credits and quantified social impact from retrofit projects.
It will give builders access to Retrogreen, designed by Digital Buildings to make it easier to connect builders with projects eligible for carbon credits.
Carbon credits is a mechanism designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating a market in which companies can trade in emissions permits.
Under the carbon credits scheme, every metric tonne of carbon that is reduced or removed from a building project or home improvement work represents one carbon credit.
Carbon credits can be purchased to support decarbonisation of housing stock by improving thermal efficiency or reducing the carbon intensity of a heating source.
Retrogreen also provides homeowners access to mortgages with reduced rates on green home improvements.
The scheme generates a detailed online specification of retrofit projects, which removes the need for builders to visit sites in order to prepare quotes.
Digital Buildings co-founder and CEO Colin Calder said: “More than 70 per cent of homes with a mortgage are now subject to UN Net Zero Banking Alliance obligations.
“To deliver on these commitments, lenders will have to incentivise borrowers to perform 350,000 domestic retrofits a year.”
FMB Chief Executive Brian Berry, said: “The UK has a legal requirement to achieve Net Zero by 2050, which means a huge amount of work needs to be done to improve the energy efficiency and decarbonisation of UK houses,”
“To paint a picture of what that means, more than 10 million homes in the UK have an Energy Performance Certificate rated D or lower, which is the largest band by number of properties.
“There are currently eight million lofts that need insulating, five million uninsulated cavity walls and 20 million uninsulated floors that need upgrading if we are to reach these targets.
“Insulation, double glazing and new heating technologies are all in demand, and Retrogreen will help connect our builders with the projects that require these trades quickly and efficiently, with the added bonus of improving returns both financially and in terms of social impact.”
This week, the department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced a new plan to boost minimum energy efficiency standards for all rented homes.
The aim of the plan is to lift more than a million households out of fuel poverty, with private rented homes currently at a Energy Performance Certificate minimum of E, while social rented homes have no minimum energy efficiency standard at all.
The government will consult on proposals for private and social rented homes to achieve Energy Performance Certificate C or equivalent by 2030.
The announcement comes amid Labour’s plan to reduce access to winter fuel allowance for pensioners in England and Wales unless they receive Pension Credit or certain other means-tested benefits.
The move has been widely criticised for potentially “leaving millions of pensioners with no money they rely on” during the winter months.
FMB CEO Brian Berry added: “Fuel bills in this country have reached an unmanageable level.
“The UK’s homes are the oldest and least efficient in Europe. There are currently eight million lofts in the UK that need insulating, five million uninsulated cavity walls, and 20 million uninsulated floors that require renovation.
“However, upgrading our homes comes at a cost, and we know work to improve energy efficiency can be expensive and daunting for homeowners, who may not know where to find a builder experienced in retrofit.
“Our most recent research has revealed that almost half of our membership (40 per cent) are never asked by consumers to improve energy efficiency in their homes.”
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