If you worry that you aren’t playing your part in protecting the environment then why not look to a green mortgage, says Anna Bowden.
Environmental issues have never had a higher public profile and more and more people are reassessing and readjusting their lives to do what they can to help our dwindling resources and our warming globe. If doing your bit for the environment is important to you then you will be pleased to know that ‘green mortgages’ are now an option. These are offered by a select number of lenders (currently just Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, The Co-Operative Bank and Ecology Building Society) and aim to minimise the negative impact your property has on the environment. They do this by promoting energy efficiency within the home and by giving something back to the environment every time someone takes out a mortgage, whether it be planting trees or donating to Climate Care. These mortgages are fairly competitive in the marketplace and have the added bonus of providing you with greater peace of mind about the part you play in the big scheme of things; and don’t forget that an energy efficient home not only helps reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions but could also save you money on running costs.
The Co-operative Bank
The Co-operative Bank offers customers the knowledge that the companies it deals with are committed to preserving the environment and that they have a sense of social responsibility. For as long as you have your mortgage the bank will make a payment every year to Climate Care, an organisation dedicated to helping solve global warming. This payment is used to help deal with 20 per cent of an average home's carbon dioxide emissions, created from generating the gas and electricity we use – Climate Care has developed a range of projects to help offset these emissions which include soaking them up by growing new forests.
For house purchases the bank will also provide you with a free Home Energy Report along with your valuation. This tells you how energy efficient your new home is and suggests ways in which you can improve it.
Norwich & Peterborough Building Society
Alongside its standard loans this building society also offers green and brown mortgages for existing and regeneration sites. The green mortgages are available for new homes with an SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) rating of 80 or more or for a property that you want to make more energy efficient. The mortgages are available to first time buyers, those moving house or remortgagees and help the environment in a number of ways. For each of the first five years of every green mortgage eight trees are planted; the estimated absorption rate of carbon dioxide by the new trees offsets the estimated emissions of that gas from the home.
The building society also works with Future Forests Limited, set up in 1989 to help offset the damage done to the environment by businesses and individuals. Future Forests and its partners plant and maintain new forests or add to existing forests, arrange to measure carbon uptake and develop carbon management programmes. Norwich & Peterborough forests will be created in East Anglia and Lincolnshire as a result of customers taking out green mortgages.
Ecology Building Society
The Ecology is a mutual building society dedicated to improving the environment by promoting sustainable housing and sustainable communities and provides mortgages for properties which give an ecological payback. You do not have to be green to get an Ecology mortgage; some borrowers have environmental concerns and others simply want to rescue a derelict property to make into their home. The aim is to provide mortgages for people who will then ensure energy efficient housing and ecological renovation as well as low-impact lifestyles.