SNP scraps gas boiler ban amid fears heat pump push 'burdening' public

The Scottish Government had brought forward plans, under Greens co-leader and former minister Patrick Harvie, that meant privately-rented homes would need to meet new energy efficiency standards, which could take the heating system into account, no later than 2028 with the rules applying to owner-occupied homes by 2033.

All homes and non-domestic buildings were required to end their use of polluting heating by the end of 2045.

Plans set out that those purchasing a home or commercial property before 2045 would have to replace gas boilers within a specific grace period following that purchase - but the exact time frame had not been decided.

Planning rules state that all newly-built homes are banned from installing a fossil fuel heating system from April 2024, but this was revised in January to allow wood burners to be installed after an outcry.

But there will now be no legal requirements on home-owners and businesses to scrap boilers in existing buildings ahead of the 2045 net zero date, with no triggers such as the sale of a property to be put in place.

Independent advisers, the Climate Change Committee, praised the initial plans - suggesting it could have acted as a template for the rest of the UK to decarbonise heating.

But acting climate action minister, Alasdair Allan, told MSPs that the government was “charting a new course” that was “consistent with our goal of removing emissions from buildings by 2045”.

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Dr Allan said that the U-turn was in response to “legitimate reservations and concerns” raised by opponents and industry, “including the risk of exacerbating fuel poverty and burdening every individual householder with an overly onerous responsibility”.

He said: “Parliament is more than aware that many households, families and businesses across the UK are facing difficult circumstances right now.

“Despite promises from the new UK Government that energy bills would be lowered by £300, since October last year, they have risen by almost £300 a year. A unit of electricity presently costs around four times that of gas, and upfront costs for clean heating systems remain higher than those for fossil fuel systems.”

Dr Allan added: “A combination of those factors, combined with a severe cost of living crisis, makes it simply unaffordable for many building owners to make great changes in the near-future.

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“I believe that these challenges may be particularly pronounced for those in rural and island locations, whose needs and circumstances we must continue to consider carefully.

“I believe that all of these factors merit important changes in our approach – changes which demonstrate that we are listening and responding to the important concerns that people have raised.”

Dr Allan stressed that the watered down plan “moves away from penalising individuals and instead commits to collective action”.

He said: “Instead of placing prohibitions on every homeowner, we will establish targets for the government to reach.

“Rather than looking at action through the lens of decarbonising alone, we will also commit to doing everything within our power to reduce costs for people.”

Dr Allan confirmed legislation will be introduced by the Scottish Government before next year’s Holyrood election which “creates a target for decarbonising heating systems by 2045”, which he claimed will send “a strong signal to homeowners, landlords and other building owners on the need to prepare for change” alongside “collective actions to help do this”.

He said: “That will give the supply chain confidence to invest. This underpins our existing work to progress to net zero through the range of support and interventions that are available to households seeking to transition their homes to non-polluting heating systems”.

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Dr Allan said the legislation will “boost heat network development” which will include “powers to require public sector buildings to connect to district heating when available”.

Despite a previous focus on electric heat pumps, Dr Allan stressed that “different properties and people will require different solutions”, adding that “clean heating solutions in some remote and rural areas may vary from urban areas”.

The legislation will also set out minimum energy efficiency standards for homes and commercial buildings.

Mr Allan said: “These regulations would mean all privately rented properties, as far as possible, reaching the equivalent of EPC C.

“This will improve those homes, reduce energy costs for tenants and support the transition to clean heating.”

Mr Harvie warned the minister that “this new approach is very clearly going to fail”.

He added: “If there’s one thing we’ve learned about climate policy in recent years, it’s that setting targets without decisive action to meet them is meaningless.

“Without the property purchase trigger, it is very clear that this will result in dramatically slower uptake of clean heating in Scotland.”

Addressing Mr Allan, Mr Harvie said that by “choosing this slower path to decarbonisation of heat, which other sectors are going to work faster to cut emissions in order to make the new climate plan remotely plausible”.

Mr Allan said he was not going to table plans ”that I know not to be feasible or possible”.

He added: “There will indeed be plans to get to those targets and that is the next job of work.”

Scottish Conservative shadow housing secretary, Meghan Gallacher, said her party had “repeatedly warned the Scottish Government that their heat in buildings bill was a farce”, but accused ministers of having “dug in their heels and refused to listen”.

She added: “Patrick Harvie stubbornly pushed for heat pumps despite overwhelming opposition from the public and experts, and even when it drove investment away from the sector during a housing emergency.

“Today’s rehashed bill still provides no clarity on the costs to the public.

“Rather than continually setting net-zero targets that they fail to meet, the SNP must finally outline a fair and affordable transition for hard-pressed, over-taxed Scots.”

Lewis Ryder-Jones, Oxfam Scotland’s advocacy adviser, said that “the idea that warmer, greener homes are unaffordable for households is a hollow excuse”.

He added: “With the right support, this transition can be made fair and affordable for everyone.

“Instead of setting yet more distant targets, the Scottish Government must urgently deliver a clear roadmap, backed by a comprehensive system of grants funded through fair taxes.”

Io Hadjicosta, climate and energy policy manager at WWF Scotland, said the legislation now risks being “toothless” and warned against “yet more targets without meaningful measures to provide certainty to industry or to reduce emissions”.