Boris Johnson's climate credentials are at risk after his £1.2 million marital townhouse was given the second worst energy rating: ‘F’ for bad efficiency.
As the PM prepares to host the crucial COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, and with climate high on the agenda for this weekend's party conference, a damning energy performance certificate (EPC), which expired on January 23, claims the three-storey redbrick house pumped out 15 tonnes of CO2 per year.
That’s more than double the average household’s six tonnes of CO2, it states.
It was reported the PM and his wife Carrie, herself a keen environmentalist, took out a buy-to-let mortgage on the pad when they snapped it up in July 2019.
But the bombshell EPC warned the property could be ineligible for rental, adding: “This property has an energy rating of F.
“It cannot be let, unless an exemption has been registered. Properties can be rented if they have an energy rating from A to E.”
The PM lectured world leaders at last week's UN General Assembly, saying humanity needs to “grow up” and get serious about tackling climate change.
But it risks sounding like hot air, as it’s revealed two of his properties are logged as having low energy efficiency ratings.
The EPC report noted the Johnsons’ posh pad in Camberwell south London had “no low energy lighting”, which is rated as “very poor”.
The house was also blasted as “very poor” for an assumed lack of insulation, and “poor” for its partial glazed windows.
It recommended fitting low energy lightbulbs, a hot water cylinder thermostat, heating controls, a new boiler and double glazed windows.
The EPC said these changes could boost the house’s potential rating to ‘E’, allowing it to scrape into the A-E bracket where rentals are allowed.
Implementing the changes could also slash the households’ CO2 emissions by 4 tonnes a year, bringing it to 11 tonnes – still nearly double the average home, according to the report.
An EPC gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years.
It is not known if works have been carried out at the Johnsons’ Camberwell home to make it more energy efficient since an EPC was last issued.
It comes as activists from Insulate Britain, an Extinction Rebellion offshoot, have caused havoc by blocking traffic on the M25 to urge the Government to insulate every home in the UK.
In a further blow to the PM, it can be revealed Mr Johnson’s Grade II listed The Old Farmhouse property in Thame, Oxfordshire, was also slapped with a lowly ‘E’ rating.
The EPC, valid until 2030, gave the country pile a score of 41, below the average of 60 for a ‘D’-rated household.
The Old Farmhouse reportedly pumps out 13 tonnes of CO2 per year, again more than doubling the average household’s six tonnes.
Despite this, Mr Johnson used his visit to the US this week to urge world leaders to do more to slash emissions.
His impassioned interventions come ahead of the UK hosting the COP 26 climate summit of world leaders in Glasgow next month, which the PM has hailed a “turning point for humanity”.
The EPC said Mr Johnson could make his The Old Farmhouse more energy efficient by installing insulation in the roof, walls and floor.
In April, it was reported that Mr Johnson’s Oxfordshire bolthole was available to rent for £425,000pcm.
But estate agent Strutt & Parker now says the four-bed detached house is no longer on the market because a let has been agreed.
