Green Party slams government over wasted Green homes opportunity

8 September 2021

The Green Party has condemned the government’s mismanagement of the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme, after a National Audit Office report identified it has wildly underdelivered on new energy efficiency home installations and creation of Green jobs.

Deputy party leader Amelia Womack said: "News that the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme has been a failure comes as no surprise and yet again demonstrates the government’s total lack of commitment to substantive action on the climate crisis.

"Decarbonising home heating is a key part of reaching net zero - even the government has managed to identify that. But here we have a scheme that was supposed to contribute to that goal while also delivering energy savings for hundreds of thousands of households and more than eighty thousand jobs, and it’s been totally mismanaged.

"A wasted opportunity doesn’t even begin to cover it!"

Delays by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy in issuing vouchers to homeowners and paying installers were also highlighted in the report.

Green Party Green New Deal spokesperson Zoe Nicholson said: “People are really on board with taking steps that will help reach net zero so it’s so disappointing that this mish mash of schemes hasn’t been easy for householders to engage with.

“For a genuinely Green recovery from Covid, local authorities need to be given the proper funding and support to play a significant role in decarbonisation - making it a priority in both the public and private sectors."