Time and Money Part 1

Money! It’s the hard thing to consider in Climate Change House.

One of the key players in this subject area is the Green Finance Institute. Its objectives are: “To achieve the transition to an inclusive, net zero carbon and climate resilient economy, both public and private finance is needed.”

In an interesting press release in November 2021 it announced a new initiative:

“The need to unlock finance to retrofit homes in the owner occupier sector is now clearly recognised, and the range of products available is beginning to grow, with pioneering financial institutions launching and continually developing new ways of lending for energy efficiency upgrades.”

The idea of such an organisation is worthy. However, most of its thinking is focused on mitigating global warming and not Climate Change.

It is an example of the confused thinking among those that have come to global warming and its impacts late.

There are other such worthy organisations. ESG – short for Environmental, Social and Governance – is a set of standards measuring a business's impact on society, the environment, and how transparent and accountable it is.

According to the CBI, two-thirds of investors take ESG factors into account when investing in a company meaning ESG has the potential to grow a business while benefiting the environment and community.

Green mortgages a long way to go - Olga Lioncat

More than 10 mortgage lenders in the UK have launched green mortgage products since the beginning of 2021 alone, but this is a relatively small proportion of the UK’s £1.58 trillion mortgage market. According to the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association, 77% of lenders are planning to launch green mortgages that are cheaper or priced the same as a typical product. Acting as a central knowledge hub, the Green Finance Institute has launched the Green Mortgage Hub, an online resource collating publicly available information on UK green mortgages into an interactive table, alongside a library of articles, reports, tools and experiments related to the green mortgage market. The hub aims to inform and encourage lenders considering entry into the green mortgage market. It aims to be a trusted source of information for mortgage intermediaries, policymakers and NGOs focused on decarbonising the built environment (that is global warming mitigation but not necessarily Climate Change) management.

The Green Mortgage Hub has a list of lenders offering a range of services. However, there is the other side of the coin. The current forms of finance are a form of tax and it is difficult for a large proportion of the population.

In the book, I offer a number of other solutions and I will be exercising them here in due course.