FCA says net zero plans need green mortgages

May 14, 2023 by Brendan O'Neill

Home owners

The retail banking director at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has stated that green mortgages could be vital in helping the UK to cut carbon out of its housing stock over the next few years.

David Geale from the FCA made this claim during a recent speech at the mortgage conference held in the London Institute of Banking & Finance. According to Mortgage Strategy, Geale stated that all areas of the country’s housing value chain would be crucial during the process of decarbonisation and boosting energy efficiency levels in homes throughout the UK.

There is anticipation across the sector that mortgage lenders will start to provide higher numbers of green mortgages and other support designed to help achieve that. The reason for this is that they could fall short of targets they have set for cutting out carbons, unless they offer more products targeted towards that goal.

Well over half of the total housing in the UK is rated D or even lower on the EPC scale, so there is a lot of work to be done. Geale said in his speech that assisting those who own their homes to save the £1,100 or less that the Climate Change Committee indicated was needed to make them fully energy efficient was the task for the industry.

He went on to add that green mortgages could be part of that process.

Mortgage advisors can also help in this job by using their CeMAP course training to identify green products and encourage borrowers to consider them.