Greenpeace and the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE) today called on the government not to scrap energy efficiency measures for British homes tomorrow if it is serious about tackling climate change. Britain's homes are responsible for over a quarter of our climate change gas emissions.
Initial reports suggest that John Prescott's office, which is responsible for housing policy, wants to water down energy saving standards for new homes due to be announced tomorrow and to abandon altogether regulations to ensure energy efficiency during the refurbishment of existing houses. Greenpeace and ACE's concern comes just two weeks after Tony Blair agreed with other G8 leaders to take further action on energy efficiency as part of global efforts to curb climate change.
Tony Blair is set to chair a new cabinet committee on energy policy tomorrow, the day that revisions to the energy section of the Building Regulations are due to be announced. The purpose of this committee is to ensure joined up government policy on climate change. Contrary to previous commitments from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister the required improvement from housebuilders appear to have been watered down from 25% to 18%, mainly as a result of lowering standards for cavity wall insulation, one the key areas to improve energy efficiency.
Simon Reddy, Policy Director at Greenpeace said,
"John Prescott lectures everyone to 'do their bit' to tackle climate change, but when it comes to meeting Britain's climate targets his department is failing miserably. If the government is serious about fighting climate change then it needs to be serious about energy saving. Far from peddling backwards, Prescott should ensure that all new homes are be built to zero emission standards, incorporating renewable energy, and existing houses made much more energy efficient."
Andrew Warren, Director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy said:
"The government says that saving energy is the 'cheapest, cleanest and safest' way of meeting its energy policy. But the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister seems to have a completely separate policy to the rest of government. This is sending the wrong signal to the building industry and to householders and undermining the whole government strategy for climate change."
For more information please contact:
Greenpeace Press Office 0207 865 8255 or
Association for the Conservation of Energy on 0207 359 8000
Notes to editors:
- Britain's homes are responsible for over a quarter of our CO2 emissions. The average house in the UK emits more CO2 each year than the average car.
- More than a million homes will be built in the south East by 2016 alone. By building them to zero emission standards, the government could remove a threat to the climate that would last for decades, if not centuries. But John Prescott has not even guaranteed that the new Thames Gateway development of 120,000 homes will meet the highest standards of energy efficiency.
- The revised UK Building Regulations were due to bring us up to Danish standards on energy efficiency in buildings. But Denmark tightened up its building regulations on energy by 25-30% only last month, leaving the UK way behind.
