“Private sector investment is urgently needed if we hope to reach the UK’s nature goals this decade. The market infrastructure is being put in place to enable the flow of private sector capital into nature recovery and nature-based solutions, but there is still much to be done. The support of the UK financial sector will be critical, in addition to the support of the broader UK private sector, and the GFI is delighted by the enthusiasm and leadership of those joining this new Group.”

“Despite lenders like Nationwide making financial products available to help people green their homes, take up remains low due to a lack of consumer awareness and knowledge about where to find trusted tradespeople. We’d like to see the government working with the private sector to urgently develop a long-term, national retrofitting initiative that increases public awareness about energy saving and helps companies to build the skills base necessary for a thriving green retrofit industry. Banks and building societies are standing ready right now to help people fund their green home improvements. The goal should be to ensure that no home is left behind.”

"This report by the Green Finance Institute and E3G brings to the fore the central role of finance in unlocking the energy efficiency puzzle. We welcome the fact that its observations and recommendations are strongly in line with the Sustainable Homes and Buildings Coalition’s own advocacy. All sectors and stakeholders now sing from the same hymn sheet when it comes to energy efficiency delivery – and this is perhaps most telling in the central importance of customer centric approaches, supply chain support and the unique role of energy efficiency in being about more than carbon savings. We look forward to continuing to work closely with E3G and the GFI in making sure that national energy efficiency moves from plan to reality and ensuring the lessons we learn from the pilots we are running up and down the country are shared far and wide. Energy efficiency is not a luxury: it is a matter of national and personal security"

"The greening of UK housing stock is one of the biggest challenges the housing market has seen in modern times. Research has shown that despite a lack of awareness about reducing carbon emissions from homes, there’s a real willingness from UK households to change. Energy efficiency has become the new dynamic in the housing market and its importance looks set to grow. One of the biggest, and immediate challenges is to engage with UK households to raise awareness of the need to improve home energy efficiency and highlight the many benefits of low-carbon housing and living. The best ideas and solutions needed to deliver multiple demand drivers, design innovative green finance products and take the right steps to boost the retrofit supply chain will come from working collaboratively across industries. There will be no better time than now to gain buy in from households to support the reduction of carbon emissions from UK homes as we set out pathways to reaching net-zero."

“A focus on retrofitting our cold and leaky buildings is a triple win for lower energy bills, boosting green jobs and industry, and reducing the UK’s exposure to volatile international fossil fuel markets. British lenders will have an important role to plan in financing this transformation of our building stock, but to date a market-failure has held back investment at scale. The recommendations set out in this report could help unblock this bottleneck, supporting consumers and businesses to benefit.”