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Carbon-cutting advice line can't gloss over Government's green home failings

Apr 2 2008

The Government's decision to launch an emissions-cutting advice service can’t gloss over the Government’s failings in helping homes to go green, Friends of the Earth said today.

The environmental campaign group said that while it supports the much-needed 'Act on CO2' initiative, it is chronically underfunded, and isn’t a substitute for a comprehensive programme to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the housing sector.

Friends of the Earth also welcomed today’s report by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee which said the Government has given insufficient priority to tackling carbon emissions from the UK’s existing homes.

Friends of the Earth’s Low Carbon Homes campaigner Dave Timms said:

"The Government must make major carbon dioxide cuts from the housing sector, which accounts for a quarter of UK emissions, if it has any hope of meeting its climate change targets. The new advice service launched today is a good initiative, but it can’t gloss over the failure of the Government’s unambitious and underfunded policies aimed at greening our homes.

“A national mobilisation of resources is needed to make all our homes warm, green and cheap to run. The Government must end fuel poverty, massively increase the grants and tax breaks available to help homes save energy, and revolutionise its approach to small scale renewable energy systems.”

Friends of the Earth pointed out that the Government has slashed £100m a year (or 25%) from the ‘Warm Front’ programme of grants for poorer families to install energy saving measures. This was recently condemned by the Government’s own Fuel Poverty Advisory Group.

Friends of the Earth today called on the government to introduce a fully-funded coherent strategy to eliminate fuel poverty and make an 80% cut in carbon emissions from the UK’s homes. This would include:

• Mandatory minimum energy efficiency standards for all existing homes.

• Greater use of home Energy Performance Certificates

• Tax breaks such as a Stamp Duty and Council Tax rebates to encourage households to install energy efficiency measures and a cut in VAT on refurbishing properties.

• £1bn in grants for renewable energy and legislation in the current Energy Bill to guaranteed premium price for electricity generated by households who install solar panels and other renewable technologies (known as a Feed-in Tariff).

• Establish a nationwide programme of low-carbon home zones where whole fuel poor communities would have their homes improved for on a street by street basis.

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