Scottish Liberal Democrats commit to switching one million homes to climate friendly heating by 2030

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have set out a commitment to switch one million homes from gas to to zero and low emissions heating by 2030.

The party says its zero carbon homes strategy would help deliver on ambitious targets to cut emissions and create incentives for households to improve their energy efficiency.

An initial five-year programme would aim to improve 80,000 homes each year.

In their manifesto, the party is to declare home insulation a national strategic priority and set a target to have covered the whole country by 2030 and double fuel poverty budgets, as well as providing incentives for householders.

It has estimated these steps could create 34,000 jobs in energy efficiency.

Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said: "Today I am setting out a commitment to switch one million homes from gas to zero and low emissions heating by 2030. This is a big number but if we haven’t moved half the homes in Scotland to climate-friendly heating by 2030, we will not meet our climate change targets.

"I have recently installed a heat pump in my own home and know how important it will be to line up the skills, training and business support for the tens of thousands of people who will be part of this transformation.

"I am concerned that, under the SNP’s best-case scenario plans, there will still be one in 20 households in fuel poverty in 2040. We must take action now to improve homes and make them greener and warmer. Work on this will create jobs, cut bills and tackle the climate emergency. 

"Scotland could be a beacon to the rest of the world, investing now to cut carbon from our energy networks will pay an environmental dividend for decades - we can’t afford to wait. 

"We will bring forward an Energy Efficiency and Zero Carbon Bill to underpin a new zero carbon homes strategy. This will introduce ambitious targets so we can meet our emissions and fuel poverty targets."