Reported in today’s Guardian, the government is reportedly set to drop energy efficiency plans for older properties and delay introduction of regulations for new houses. This sends the wrong signal to an industry which is struggling to increase commitment and awareness of climate change issues. This comes surprisingly so soon after the governments sustainability strategy (which promised, or hinted at tougher targets for construction) and commitments at G8.
With the construction and related industries contributing 49% of total UK carbon emissions, the governments plan to reduce building, and particularly home, carbon footprints, it is sad, if this report is correct, that these plans are to be postponed or scrapped.
Without the support of the built environment industry the government cannot meet their overall climate change targets and ambitions. These measures would have stopped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of carbon entering the atmosphere by 2010.
So it seems the message is business as usual for the industry – with maintenance and running costs meeting the costs of greening buildings in the future. Meanwhile the environment will continue to deteriate.
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