Heat in buildings monitoring and evaluation Framework

Introduction

In our Heat in Buildings Strategy^[1], published in 2021, we made a commitment to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework ('Framework') to be able to track progress against the strategy. This document sets out an initial Framework to fulfil that commitment, building on the initial outcomes identified in the Heat in Buildings Strategy.

The Framework is designed to demonstrate the extent to which our Heat in Buildings policies and programmes are delivering emission reductions and achieving wider outcomes. It provides a way to communicate our progress, supporting engagement and giving clarity to supply chain and industry about progress and direction of travel.

As we set out in the strategy, many different elements need to come together to enable us to deliver the heat transition. This includes a long-term regulatory framework, a strong supply chain, investment, public engagement and supporting infrastructure and planning. Drawing these elements together and understanding how they contribute to the strategy's goal is complex. We have therefore developed a monitoring map that sets out the relationship between the elements required to deliver our goal of reducing emissions from Scotland's buildings as part of a just transition.

This Framework is based on that developed by the Climate Change Committee^[2] and was developed using the responses we received to the consultation on the Heat in Buildings Strategy^[3]. We have consulted with the UK Government and the Climate Change Committee during the development of this Framework.

We aim to align this Framework with the Scottish Government's Climate Change Plan Monitoring Report^[4]. The Framework will also support the development of a separate Fuel Poverty monitoring and evaluation framework next year to monitor progress against the Scottish Government's Fuel Poverty Strategy^[5].

We recently published our latest annual Heat in Buildings Strategy progress report^[6] as required by the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. In future years, the report summarising progress against the indicators in this Framework will fulfil this requirement. We will therefore publish a report against this Framework for the first time in October 2024.