The Green Finance Institute (GFI) has released a report revealing that introducing Property Linked Finance (PLF) to the UK market could investment of billions in the energy efficiency of the UK’s properties.

With buildings responsible for around 23 per cent of the UK’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, an estimated £360bn of investment will be required to upgrade the UK’s buildings by 2050.

PLF, a financial solution not currently available in the UK, is based on the US Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) model which has enabled the investment of over $13bn of capital according to PACENation, the US trade body.

PLF enables property owners to fund all of the energy efficiency upgrades upfront, with the finance linked to the property, rather than the property owner. This means the payment obligation transfers to the new owner when it is sold.

Developing and introducing PLF to the UK market in collaboration with the finance and retrofit industries has the potential to enable between £52bn and £70bn of private capital into upgrading 2.1 million EPC D rated and below owner-occupied homes.

Emma Harvey-Smith, programme director, Green Finance Institute, said: “Introducing Property Linked Finance to the UK market could channel billions into improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s homes and buildings. The GFI first identified PLF as a solution in 2020 and looks forward to working with the finance and retrofit sectors to bring forward a scalable and customer-centric model for PLF that will support the UK’s net-zero ambitions.”

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