Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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229. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if the Government is still committed to retrofitting 500,000 homes to B2 by 2030, as per the Programme for Government commitment; if not, if this commitment has been downgraded to retrofitting to 500,000 B2 equivalent homes; the rationale for this downgrade; when this decision was taken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39520/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The 2021 Climate Action Plan (CAP21) sets out a range of emissions reductions for each sector that together will contribute towards achieving the 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. The range of emissions reductions for the built environment published in CAP21 is 44% - 56% relative to 2018 levels and includes direct emissions associated with buildings in the residential, commercial and public sectors.  As one of the measures for achieving emissions reductions in the residential sector the National Retrofit Plan sets a target to complete 500,000 residential retrofits to achieve a B2 BER/cost optimal equivalent or carbon equivalent and the installation of 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes, by the end of 2030.

The Retrofit Plan estimates that, between 2019 and 2025, almost 185,000 home energy upgrades will be delivered with over 83,000 to a B2/cost optimal level. When the emissions savings from the non-B2 upgrades are included, this is the equivalent of 120,000 B2 upgrades over the period. As a result, there will be a need to deliver, on average, approximately 75,000 B2-equivalent home upgrades per year from 2026 to 2030 to achieve the overall target of 500,000 by 2030.

The National Development Plan and National Retrofit Plan have ring-fenced €8 billion to support the achievement of this objective. This will be supplemented by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage budget for retrofitting local authority homes.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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230. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the Government’s target for homes retrofitted to B2 standard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39521/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Programme for Government and the Climate Action Plan set ambitious targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2 (or cost optimal equivalent), and to install 400,000 heat pumps to replace existing heating systems by 2030. The review of the National Development Plan (NDP) resulted in an unprecedented financial commitment to support achievement of the Government’s retrofit targets. A total of €8 billion of Exchequer funding (including €5 billion in carbon tax revenues) will be available to support residential upgrades to 2030. Achieving B2 status for homeowners is central to the new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme which was launched earlier this year. The Scheme introduces a new, highly customer centric, way to undertake home upgrades. SEAI registered One-Stop-Shops will provide an end-to-end service for homeowners. This includes surveying; designing the upgrades; managing the grant process; helping with access to finance; engaging contractors; and quality assurance. The Scheme offers unprecedented grant levels, increased from around 30% to 50% of the cost of a typical B2 home energy upgrade with a heat pump.

This year, the SEAI has a target to support 27,000 home energy upgrades across all schemes including 8,640 homes to a post-works Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2.

Figures from the SEAI show that to the end of June, 8,628 homes have been completed across the residential and community schemes, of these 2,681 have been upgraded to a post works BER of B2 or better.