Phase 3 Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund

Update: 3 June

Thank you to everyone who has expressed an interest in Phase 3 of Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund.

We are currently assessing Phase 3 applications and expect this process to continue until July 2026. Grant offer letters are anticipated to be issued in August 2026, with a grant end date of 31 March 2027.

We are currently on track to meet this schedule. 

During the assessment period, members of our energy, carbon and technical team may contact applicants to request further information or clarification regarding their application. Applicants are therefore asked to ensure that an appropriate representative within their organisation is available to respond to any queries during this time.

Where clarification requests are issued, applicants should endeavour to provide a response within four working days.

We welcome your queries regarding Phase 3 of Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund, please email us at [email protected]

24 March: Application window opened

29 April: Application window closed

May-July: Assessments

August: Grant offers are expected to be made in August 2026 with an expected grant start date expected in late August and a grant end date of 31 March 2027.

We welcome your queries regarding Phase 3 of Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund, please email us at [email protected]

We have changed the application process for Phase 3 of this fund. To apply for Phase 3 of Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund, all applicants must have registered their interest through our website. Following your registration, instructions on how to apply will be sent to your registered email address. 

From 24 March 2026, eligible organisations were invited to apply for funding to support the delivery of their heat decarbonisation and / or energy efficiency project(s).

Phase 3 of Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund has two strategic objectives:

• To support projects that will replace existing polluting heating systems with clean heating systems.
• To support energy efficiency projects where they can demonstrate that they are part of a whole building retrofit approach or broader strategy for heat decarbonisation (including connections to heat networks). 

Phase 3 of Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund builds on the previous phases to support eligible public sector organisations to introduce zero emissions heating systems. The fund also continues to encourage a ‘whole building’ approach that implements energy efficiency measures to reduce a building’s overall energy demand and optimise the performance of their zero direct emissions heating system.

Many buildings rely on fossil fuel systems to fulfil heating, hot water and catering requirements. The energy demand from these requirements is often high and requires a strategic and targeted approach to reduce the associated carbon emissions. Decarbonising heating in these buildings has been established as one of the biggest challenges in meeting the UK’s 2050 net zero targets. 

Scotland is paving the way to source alternative systems to replace fossil-fuel based heating and has set an even more ambitious target to meet net zero emissions for all greenhouse gasses by 2045.

We have held four webinars to help guide applicants through the fund – the final online workshop took place on April 21.