The Challenges Of Greening Housing Stocks and Mortgages

Why you should watch: Two thirds of the UK housing stock is energy inefficient, a major obstacle to achieving the transition to a net zero economy by 2050. The housing and mortgage sector are impatiently awaiting for the Government to announce its policy on improving home energy performance through lenders. Meanwhile lenders have developed new mortgages products such as Green mortgages but incentives for homeowners to retrofit their houses to improve EPC ratings remain patchy and ineffective. Is it at all feasible to scale up retrofitting programmes to meet decarbonisation targets. What are the implications for homeowners and lenders? Will lenders stop offering mortgages to homes with inadequate EPC ratings? How are other countries tackling these challenges?

Moderator: Martina Garcia (Chief Executive Officer, CSFI)

Maya Hennerkes is the Director for Green Financial Systems at the Climate Strategy and Delivery Department of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Prior to this, she led EBRD’s ESG work with financial institutions and private equity funds. She promotes sustainable financial systems and the integration of climate, environmental and social matters in investment decisions and management. Maya is a sustainable finance and ESG expert with almost 20 years of experience, with previous positions at the Inter-American Development Bank Group in Washington DC and Bloomberg L.P. in London.

Kevin Murphy looks after the Existing Mortgage Customer journeys at NatWest and as part of the role leads NatWest’s response and strategy on Climate Change. Kevin’s team is responsible for the pioneering Green Mortgage products which has received over £1bn of application since launch, as well as establishing and leading on NatWest Green Homes attitude tracker and Sustainable Homes and Buildings Coalition. Kevin has also worked in Procurement for over 25 years spanning across many industries, such as Electronics, Bio Tech, Engineering, NHS, Computing and Finance. He is passionate about ensuring NatWest play their role in achieving UK’s ambition of getting to net zero by 2050.

Kate Davies is the Executive Director of IMLA, the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association since January 2018. A graduate of Durham University, Kate joined the Building Societies Association/Council of Mortgage Lenders in 1991. When the BSA and CML split in 1996, she stayed with the CML as Senior Policy Adviser, specialising in mortgage regulation. Since leaving the CML at the end of 2008, Kate has worked freelance for a number of trade associations, and served as a non-executive Director at Darlington Building Society.

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