Millions of Scots could be penalised for having a gas boiler, under new plans from Green minister Patrick Harvie

The zero carbon buildings minister wants to overhaul energy efficiency standards in a bid to help reach climate change targets

Over a million Scots could be penalised for owning a fossil fuel boiler under new proposals to overhaul energy efficiency standards.

Green minister Patrick Harvie says households across Scotland have to clean up their heating systems “at a pace and scale that is consistent with Scotland’s legal climate targets”.

His proposals include giving properties with a fossil fuel boiler a lower EPC (energy performance certificate) than those with a modern heating system, such as a heat pump, by 2025, and insisting properties have at least an EPC band C rating before they can be put up for sale.

Gas boilers could be banned from new properties in Scotland by as early as April 2024. Image: Ruslan Ivantsov.

The zero carbon buildings minister also wants to see fossil fuel boilers banned from new buildings from next April.

This is in a bid to help meet Scotland’s target of cutting carbon emissions by 75 per cent by 2030, and be net zero by 2045 - five years earlier than the rest of the UK.

Mr Harvie has previously said this would cost £33 billion.

Writing in The Herald on Sunday, Mr Harvie said “the challenge is daunting, but the prize is huge”.

Patrick Harvie MSP. Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

He said: “Improved energy efficiency is essential, but nowhere near enough.

“We can’t insulate our way to zero carbon buildings.

“To do that we need to change the way we heat homes.

“To meet our 2030 targets alone, more than one million Scottish homes will need to change to a climate-friendly heating system, a massive transition - as big as the shift from coal to gas last century, but in a shorter timescale.”

This comes after the Climate Change Committee wrote to Mr Harvie in February calling for the EPC system to be overhauled - it said EPCs should focus on energy use intensity, fabric, heating system type, and the cost of heating.

Mr Harvie added he hopes this will create thousands of skilled jobs for decades to come.

He said: “The package of support provided by the Scottish Government is already the most generous in the UK.

“We updated the Home Energy Scotland scheme last December and we will be launching a new warmer homes Scotland scheme in the autumn.

“We have provided specific funds for public buildings, heat networks and social landlords and I am excited by some of the plans I see coming forward.”

He added: “We can’t do it entirely alone and the UK’s Climate Change Committee has highlighted that the UK Government must equally rise to the challenge.

“But I am confident that Scotland has the ambition and the will to make it happen.”

Meanwhile the Scottish Conservatives have branded Mr Harvie’s plans as “deeply concerning” for homeowners.

Douglas Lumsden MSP, the party’s net zero, energy and transport spokesman, said: “The Green minister is typically acting like he knows best by ploughing ahead with these plans.

“This is hugely naive considering he has put in a pitiful amount of the funding required to support homeowners to replace gas boilers.

“Penalising them during a cost-of-living crisis is simply unacceptable.

“While we all want to see a just transition, policies must be fair and measured.

“Patrick Harvie must be fully upfront about what his plans to overhaul these ratings will mean for homeowners in reality.”