Bids invited for share of £5m for green home finance products

It will back projects that develop innovative green mortgages and other lending products, targeting consumers who would not get support under government schemes

Financial institutions and mortgage lenders are invited to bid for a share of nearly £5 million for innovative green home finance products.

The Green Home Finance Innovation Fund (GHFIF), initially announced in July, will provide around £4.63 million to three to five projects that develop innovative green mortgages and other lending products, targeting consumers who would not get support under government schemes.

Successful bids, which should not exceed £1.8 million per project, must demonstrate how the financial product incentivises homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of existing properties or how it reinforces a market relationship between energy efficient properties and property value.

BEIS says successful projects are likely to be owner-occupied related as there are other measures to encourage improvements in the private rental sector, however, it is not ruling out products aimed at landlords.

The competition will test whether the green finance products are desirable to consumers, drive energy efficiency works and are able to be self-sustaining without further input from BEIS in the future.

It is open to banks, building societies or consumer finance organisations and encourages partnerships with other organisations, such as the retrofit supply chain, energy suppliers and smart data/analytics companies that could deliver energy assessments and retrofits.

Expressions of interest must be submitted by 26th September and the deadline for applications is 14th October 2019.

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