The mortgage industry must fly the green flag ‒ even if the govt won’t ‒ Whittaker

In the early days of Mr Johnson’s premiership, it seemed – to me, at least – as though he really wanted to be remembered as the PM who dragged the UK into a carbon-free future.

The early signs were promising. The GHG was introduced in September 2020 to provide homeowners with grants of up to £5,000 to make their homes more efficient.

Was it perfect? No, not at all. In fact, it was rather muddled, difficult to use and was even called a “slam dunk fail” by the Public Accounts Committee.

That maybe so, but it was a step in the right direction and, given time and support, it could have made a significant impact on the UK’s housing emissions.

But rather than fix its flaws, the government decided to scrap it without replacement on 31 March at only three days’ notice.

At the time, the media speculated that the scheme was dumped because it was hopelessly ineffective. But one can’t help but think that perhaps Mr Johnson and the government felt that battling the economic fallout from Covid should – rightly or wrongly – be a much bigger priority. Promises to replace it within a year by the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng (now our chancellor) came to nothing.

Green has been ‘pushed down the agenda’

I am getting a similar feeling with Liz Truss and her new cabinet. The pandemic has been replaced by the cost-of-living crisis, but the net result is the same: green has been pushed down the agenda – far down indeed.

Even before securing power, Ms Truss indicated she wanted to ramp up North Sea oil production and to scrap the Green Levy used to fund environmentally-friendly projects.

I understand entirely the need to get the economy back on an even keel and to ensure households can heat their homes this winter. However, I’m yet to be convinced that the best way to alleviate the current situation is to undermine the ongoing fight for the long-term health of our planet.

While that decision is out of our hands, we can, as an industry, continue to do our bit for the green agenda.

Mortgage industry should ‘fly green flag’

Over the past two years many lenders, Keystone included, have come to market with green mortgages aimed at rewarding those buying energy efficient properties, or encouraging those with less efficient homes to upgrade them.

To me, that is one of the most important innovations to hit our market in decades, certainly in my 35 years in the industry.

From our own experience, green mortgages are becoming increasingly popular, but there are still plenty of borrowers who do not know about them or who still need convincing.

We also need to get our own houses in order. Nearly every major company now has a plan in place to reduce the impact they have on the environment. At the next level could the thousands of small and medium-sized firms that make up the UK’s mortgage market do the same? The impact of that collective effort would be extraordinary.

It does worry me that climate change has been relegated to a secondary issue by our politicians, even temporarily.

But there is nothing stopping us in the mortgage industry from continuing to fly the green flag.