SCOTLAND should set up a new quango to oversee its ambitious plans to fight fuel poverty and make buildings more energy efficient, an official report has suggested.
More than £10 billion is due to be spent over the next two decades in a bid to slash the carbon footprint of existing buildings to “near zero” by 2050.
Experts insist the move – which will take in £1.56bn in Scottish Government grants – will boost GDP and create up to 6,000 jobs as a result of upgrading works.
But with almost two-thirds of homes currently below standard, and huge improvements required in the commercial sector, ministers face a “significant challenge”.
Now a new report commissioned by the Scottish Government has suggested creating a non-departmental public body to make sure targets are met.
A Government spokeswoman said it was “committed to transforming the energy efficiency of Scotland’s domestic and non-domestic properties”.
However, she stressed the research had been conducted independently and provided an “impartial view of the options”.
She added: “We are carefully considering the findings, alongside our partners in local government.”
Scottish ministers highlighted energy efficiency as a national infrastructure priority in 2015, amid wider plans to reduce Scotland’s carbon emissions by 80 per cent in the coming decades.
The Energy Efficient Scotland programme, which will run over a 20-year period, aims to boost the green credentials of Scotland’s buildings and set mandatory standards by 2030 if progress falls behind, as well as tackling fuel poverty.
However, following a consultation in 2017, it was suggested the complexity and long-term nature of the project meant it needed a new body to oversee it.
- READ MORE: India’s biggest hotel chain in Scots launch
A report by auditors KPMG has now suggested the “leading options” would be setting up a government directorate or a separate quango, with annual administrative costs of £44m estimated for the scheme.
It found a quango was the “highest performing model regarding role delivery”.
More than half of Scotland’s energy consumption is used for heating or cooling buildings.
Scottish Greens energy spokesman Mark Ruskell MSP welcomed the proposals.
He said: “Emissions from our homes and buildings account for a quarter of Scottish greenhouse gas emissions.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel