New measures to slash carbon emissions from housing stock

On 15 June 2022, the Scottish Government published new regulations aimed at cutting emissions from all new-build homes by almost one-third. The regulations will also apply to newly built non-domestic buildings and form part of plans to reduce emissions across Scotland’s building stock by more than two-thirds by 2030. 

Key elements contained in the new regulations include:

• improved performance targets aimed at reducing emissions from new homes by an aggregate of 32% and new non-domestic buildings by an aggregate of 20%
• the introduction of a new energy target for new buildings to set and report on performance of decarbonisation as new buildings are decarbonised
• a focus on reducing energy demand, including improved fabric insulation in new homes to reduce heating needs 
• changes to make connection to low-carbon heating solutions, such as heat networks, easier 

The new standards, which will apply from December 2022, also support plans for all new buildings to have zero emissions heating systems from 2024. 

Source: Scottish Government, 15 June 2022