In September 2022, HACT launched its Retrofit Credits pilot, funded through the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme.
HACT has now shared the results of the pilot, which overall show that the scheme “works”.
Twenty-two social housing organisations have participated in the pilot, ranging from a small housing co-operative in Bristol to a G15 housing association in London.
Other participants in the pilot include a partnership of housing associations in Hertfordshire, a rural based housing association in Yorkshire as well as three local authorities – a county council, a borough council, and a London borough council.
The credits generated through the pilot will produce around £100,000 in revenue this year, and over the next 20 years, HACT forecasts that the credits generated will raise over £7m in capital that can be reinvested back into retrofit works.
The Retrofit Credits scheme has been assessed and verified by independent auditors, who, as well as auditing the data, also visited some of the homes that have been retrofitted.
They found all the emissions reductions achieved are due to the retrofitting work that has taken place as part of the Retrofit Credits scheme.
The other part of the pilot involved identifying buyers for the Retrofit Credits, buyers who met the conditions set out in the ethical framework that was developed by participating housing associations.
This framework means that the credits are bought by organisations who have an active decarbonisation strategy and are abating their existing emissions in line with climate science, thereby negating participants’ concerns about accusations of greenwashing.
All the credits originated under the pilot have been sold, with The Economist, Berkeley Group, Unity Trust Bank, and Ibstock securing significant tranches.
A range of other organisations have purchased smaller numbers, including Igloo, Hunters, and Kinovo.
HACT says it is working with over 100 housing providers and local authorities to help them finance their retrofit ambitions.
The organisation has around 100,000 homes enrolled in the service from a variety of rural and urban providers across the UK, including the North and Yorkshire, the Midlands, and London.
These housing providers are verified to have met a series of conditions set out in the ethical framework developed by housing associations.
HACT says this means it can be sure that money is only being invested where it will be used properly, to improve the lives of residents living in social housing.
Retrofit Credits allows social housing organisations to turn their planned or even completed retrofit activities into income streams.
HACT intends to run its next crediting cycle later this year and are inviting organisations to send details of retrofit works completed since January 2023.
More on HACT:
- HACT: Measuring resident resilience amid the cost-of-living crisis
- HACT and Shelter Scotland examine social impact of affordable housing
- HACT unveils IoT specialist as Launch Pad partner
‘Just the beginning’
HACT CEO Andrew van Doorn said: “It’s absolutely brilliant to see the scheme in action and see the positive effects it’s already having in the communities in which it’s being used.
“When we launched Retrofit Credits we had very high hopes for it, and now 12 months later, it’s fantastic to see those hopes being borne out.
“And this is just the beginning. We’re planning to roll out even more credits later this year in order to really get this scheme in the centre of people’s minds, and to really maximise the amount of decarbonisation that takes place.”
Image credit: jwohlfeil/Shutterstock
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