No legal requirement to update heating systems in new bill

The Scottish government has announced a revised plan to decarbonise Scotland’s heating systems by 2045.

Acting Net Zero Secretary Gillian Martin scrapped the previous plan last month, saying it would “make people poorer”.

The revised Heat in Buildings Bill sets targets for decarbonisation but it stops short of legally requiring homeowners and businesses to replace their heating systems by 2045, as outlined in the previous version.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie, who drafted the previous bill, warned that the government was “watering down” the legislation and and “stripping away almost all of its serious policy measures”.

Acting Climate Action Minister Alasdair Allan said the Scottish government would bring forward the revised bill for consideration by the Scottish Parliament later in 2025.

The production of heat accounts for more than half of Scotland’s energy demands and is the largest contributor to the country’s carbon emissions.

MSPs have already passed legislation committing the country to achieving net-zero emissions by 2045.

Proposals drawn up while the Scottish Greens were still in the government would have required property owners to switch from “polluting” heating systems, such as gas boilers, to more environmentally-friendly alternatives like heat pumps.

Mr Allan said the 2045 target sends a “strong signal to homeowners, landlords and other building owners on the need to prepare for change”.

However, he accepted the upfront costs customers have to pay for “clean heating systems remain higher than those for fossil fuel systems”.

He told MSPs at Holyrood that the new approach “moves away from penalising individuals and instead commits to collective action”.

Mr Allan added: “Instead of placing prohibitions on every homeowner, we will establish targets for government to reach.”

Harvie – who recently announced plans to step down as co-leader of the Scottish Greens – said his original legislation was being “gutted” and warned that the government’s new approach was “very clearly going to fail”.

He added: “If there is one thing that we have learned about climate policy in recent years, it is that setting targets without decisive action to meet them is meaningless.”

He also claimed that not including a “property purchase trigger” – which would have required people buying a home to commit to changing the heating system to a greener alternative within a fixed time period – would mean a “dramatically slower uptake of clean heating in Scotland”.

Labour also raised concerns, with Paul O’Kane highlighting how the Scottish government had abandoned its target of cutting emissions by 75% by 2030.

He said: “Given the government has failed to deliver on their climate change targets, and literally broke their own legislation on it, how can the people and industries of Scotland have faith that they will deliver and meet heat in building targets?”

Conservative housing spokesperson Meghan Gallacher said the “rehashed bill still provides no clarity on the costs to the public”.

She said: “Rather than continually setting net-zero targets that they fail to meet, the SNP must finally outline a fair and affordable transition for hard-pressed, over-taxed Scots.”

Charities have warned that the legislation “risks being a toothless bill”.

Io Hadjicosta, from WWF Scotland, said Scots were seeing “yet more targets without meaningful measures to provide certainty to industry or to reduce emissions”.

Lewis Ryder-Jones, from Oxfam Scotland, said: “Weakening Scotland’s clean-heat plans risks leaving people to struggle with sky-high bills and cold, draughty homes while pouring cold water on the transition to a greener Scotland that works for everyone.”