Ecology's record breaking green mortgages
Wednesday 25 July 2007
Ecology Building Society's green lending reaches new heights
As the Building Societies Association announces that lending figures across the board are down on last year, Ecology Building Society in contrast announces that it has already matched its 2006 lending in the first 6 months of 2007 - and with new commitments running at record levels this heightened lending activity shows no sign of abating!
Ecology Building Society has been engaged in environmentally informed lending for more than 25 years, but has seen a significant increase in lending volumes over the last six months. The Society believes this is due to a number of factors including:
- Growing awareness by individuals of the need to take action on climate change
- Increasing media attention on environmental issues
- Ecology's successful foray into providing development finance for ecological housing projects
Ecology Chief Executive, Paul Ellis comments, "We have had a record breaking year for lending so far. The first half of 2007 has proved to be our strongest to date, and in June we posted single month records for gross lending, net lending and new advances! Clearly this is proof that not only is there a growing appetite for truly green mortgages but that homeowners are taking action to improve the energy efficiency of their homes."
Ecology considers all its mortgages to be green as they are only available for properties or improvements that have a positive environmental impact. Examples of lending include:
- Assisting with the purchase and renovation of disused, derelict buildings (a form of recycling)
- Financing the construction of new low impact, sustainable eco-new builds
- The installation of energy saving measures and renewable energy technologies to existing homes
Paul Ellis continues, "The only environmental credential of some so called 'green' mortgages currently on the market are the payments their providers make to a variety of carbon offsetting schemes. Such add-ons are not enough to make a mortgage 'green' and it is debatable whether all such schemes keep their promises. Surely it makes sense to prevent CO2 emissions being produced from the outset than trying to compensate for them afterwards - we need to curb CO2 production not make excuses for it."
