NEW PROPOSALS FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT HOMES

Lenders could be discouraged from offering mortgages on properties with a lower energy efficiency rating under plans being considered by the government, the Daily Telegraph (£) reports. Proposals from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), due to be set out in the coming weeks, will set a target for homes to have an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of C or higher from 2030, the paper says. To hit the target, mortgage lenders would be required to have higher EPC ratings on average across their portfolio from 2025.

A BEIS spokesperson said: ?The UK has a strong track record in improving the energy performance of its homes - with 40 per cent now above Energy Performance (EPC) Band C, up from just 9 per cent in 2008 - and we continue to work with lenders and finance providers to support property owners in making emission-reducing improvements while also increasing property values. We are clear that no one will be prevented from selling their homes because they do not meet EPC Band C.?

Meanwhile analysis of planning policy in The Times (£) has found that nearly 400,000 homes could be built on greenfield sites in the south east of England over the next five years.

GOVERNMENT BORROWED £31.7 BILLION IN APRIL

The government borrowed £31.7 billion in April 2021, lower than the previous year but still the second highest level for an April since records began, Office for National Statistics data published this morning has shown (BBC News). The figure was £15.6 billion lower than April last year when the country had the first full month of a national lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic (Sky News).

Speaking to the Treasury Committee yesterday, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, said that inflation could rise above the Bank's target of two per cent but this would only be temporary and it would fall back below again (The Times, £). Mr Bailey said ?[t]hese transitory developments should have few direct implications for inflation over the medium term?, although the Bank would reconsider its approach if the pricing pressures become more ?generalised? (Reuters).

NEWS IN BRIEF

Footfall in UK shops last week remained 28.7 per cent below the levels seen during the same period in 2019, according to data from Springboard, although shopper numbers were up 1.1 per cent week-on-week (BBC News).

The government's research and development tax credit system is not delivering a significant increase in business investment in the area, according to a report from the Centre for Business Research at Cambridge Judge Business School (Financial Times, £).

Legislation should be put in place to require financial firms to cut carbon emission, such as the rules facing oil and gas and transport companies, according to a report from the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace (The Times, £).

Nearly three-quarters of UK banks have introduced digital technology in order to make their operations greener, research by Censuswide has found (City AM).

LATEST BLOGS

Ben Rattenbury, our Manager, Sustainability, reports on last month's second of ?COP 26 and Beyond? webinar series, in collaboration with EY, which focused on climate risk management and stress testing.