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The Chancellor's budget speech urging lenders to lead the way in creating green financial financial products has met with resounding approval from many major lenders. The Cooperative Bank, which says it pioneered green mortgages seven years ago, is planning to improve its eco-portfolio with new features. Chief Executive David Anderson said: 'As part of the Bank’s established ethical policy we are committed to tackling climate change and supportive of government efforts to increase awareness of energy efficiency. We plan to extend our green mortgage proposition, which is currently available on all our products, by developing an innovative solution to reward and encourage homeowners to actively reduce their CO2 emissions.'
The Cooperative group, which has a clear ethical policy, also provides other eco friendly products, such as eco motor insurance and affinity credit cards through which card holders can contribute to organisations such as Oxfam and Greenpeace.
HBOS says that lenders can clearly play a part in green finance and has announced plans to launch a green mortgage next year. Yorkshire Building Society is to launch a pilot project among existing borrowers to lend money to make their homes more energy efficient.
Meanwhile, Norwich and Peterborough, which has offered green mortgages since 1998, expressed delight that other mortgage lenders were planning to offer such products. Alison Rolls said: 'This is not a competition – all lenders should provide green mortgages. As lenders we have an obligation to make homebuyers aware that there is a great deal they can do to reduce emissions by saving energy at home. The good news is that it enables homeowners to save money too – with lower energy bills. Providing green mortgages is an excellent first step, which should be followed by the lender becoming carbon neutral itself.' Norwich and Peterborough became carbon neutral this year, offsetting all its CO2 emissions.