NEW homes will have to be built with heating systems that produce no carbon emissions from 2024 under Scottish Government plans.
It has launched a consultation on the proposed measures that would only give planning consent to new buildings if their heating produces zero direct greenhouse gas emissions.
Views are also being sought about other ways to make new homes and non-residential buildings more affordable to heat and how to create opportunities for retraining workers to install zero-emission heating systems.
The proposals follow a recommendation from the UK Committee on Climate Change that new properties produce no carbon emissions from 2025 at the latest.
Scotland’s housing minister Kevin Stewart said: “We want to combine the action we need to meet the challenge of the climate emergency with our ambition to provide affordable, warm homes.”
Professor Lynne Sullivan from the Good Homes Alliance, who co-chaired the New Build Heat Standard working group, added: “We welcome the consultation on new homes, and believe the targets are achievable with existing technologies at scale.”
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