This week it was announced that the Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill (formerly known as the “Heat in Buildings Bill”) is being scrapped.
We are deeply disappointed and frustrated to see yet another delay to legislation on how buildings in Scotland are to be heated in the future to meet our climate commitments.
This is the second time the Bill has been dropped this year, and with every missed milestone the gap between ambition and action widens.
After five years of strategies, consultations, and commitments, homeowners in Scotland are still without the clarity they urgently need to prepare their homes for a low-carbon future not only to meet net zero targets but also to have affordably warm, healthier homes.
Scotland cannot afford continued dithering. We recognise the complexities of aligning with UK-wide decisions. However, the central issue is what Scotland stands to lose by delaying clarity.
Every delay in retrofit and clean heat isn’t just a delay in carbon savings. It’s a delay in preventing illness, reducing NHS pressure, and improving everyday wellbeing.
Instead of seizing the opportunity to lead, the draft Bill, Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill, published fails to provide clear, confident signals about what will be expected of property owners and when.
Without those signals, families cannot plan, installers cannot invest, and communities cannot build momentum toward the transition needed to meet Scotland’s net zero targets.
Without certainty, we can’t realise the wider benefits of improved home comfort, health and wellbeing, lower energy bills and investment in a clean-heat economy and the additional jobs that will bring.
Scotland urgently needs clarity, ambition, and leadership to deliver on its climate commitments and ensure a just transition to net zero, alongside positive economic impacts and job opportunities that would be enabled by clear policy and legislation.
We will continue to urge the Government to bring forward a strengthened, realistic and useful legislation at the earliest opportunity so that Scotland can fully realise the economic, social and health benefits of affordably warm, healthier homes with lower carbon emissions.