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Net Zero: retrofitting
Net Zero: What can we do in the region to make sure everyone's home is warm and healthy?
This survey has now closed but you can still read our draft Climate Action Report and proposed actions and watch the video of the evidence gathering session (below). Please give your feedback on our other active surveys - we would love to have your views!
Retrofit: Upgrading and improving our homes to make them warm, cheaper to run, and low carbon – for example, by adding insulation or solar panels, changing the heating system or improving temperature controls. We can’t get to Net Zero without retrofitting millions of homes, quickly.
Introduction
There are 2.3 million homes in the Yorkshire and Humber region and the majority (85%) with EPC ratings are rated at C or below. This means that most homes are losing more heat than they need to be. Along with gas boilers being the norm for central heating, this is why our homes are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. To meet our Net Zero targets, the region needs to take ambitious steps to get retrofit moving quickly.
The current cost-of-living crisis has shone a light on the importance of everyone having a warm and healthy home. Aside from reducing emissions, retrofitted homes can be transformational to people’s lives. Retrofit increases comfort, lowers heating bills, can help us adapt to the changing climate. For many people, it can also reduce the long-term health impacts of living in a cold, damp home.
Tackling retrofit is a huge opportunity with the potential to create thousands of good, skilled, well-paid jobs. Addressing the challenge by looking at what we already have – and can build on – within the Yorkshire and Humber, in terms of skills, resources, and people, means we can make sure the benefits to the economy are felt in the region.
Read our draft Regional Climate Action Report
We have prepared a report by bringing in ideas and expertise from our commissioners, research, and experts who are tackling the problem across the country, in the region, and on the ground. You can watch the session in the video at the foot of this page.
At this stage, the report might not give the full picture so we would really value your feedback. The ideas we are discussing affect everyone and we want to know what you think. Please give your responses in the survey below
Key actions the region can take to get retrofit moving quickly includes:
- Supporting local authorities to deliver whole street or neighbourhood retrofit
- Enabling more ambitious retrofit of social housing to build the skills and supply chain
- Ensuring higher standards of energy efficiency in the private rented sector
- Supporting retrofit start-ups across the region and developing finance for the owner-occupied market
Read the full report below to find out more on:
- What the issue is and how tackling it will help the economy in Yorkshire and Humber.
- What's happening now and what's stopping us from moving forward.
- What could be happening and where we could be headed.
Check out the report on Retrofitting
For more information, you can watch this recording of the expert panel discussion on retrofitting. Watching this video is optional and if you do not want to watch, simply click 'next' to submit your survey.
We brought in five speakers in our Delivering Impact Session who are already working on the retrofit challenge from different perspectives and then discussed the actions we could take as Yorkshire and Humber.
- The National Vision: Joanne Wheeler Senior Manager – Local Policy and Retrofit - UK Green Buildings Council
- Regional Best Practice: Andy Boyle - Founder - Otley Energy
- On the Ground Success: Jonathan Atkinson - Project Manager - Carbon Co-op
- Housing Association leading the way: Patrick Berry – Director- Together Net Zero
- Citizen Engagement on retrofit policy: Dr Jake Ainscough - Senior Research Associate - Lancaster University
This engagement phase has finished
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