| Sourced From Businessgreen |
The building industry has rejected accusations that it is looking to water down the government’s target of ensuring all new homes are zero carbon by 2016, insisting it remains widely committed to meeting zero-carbon standards.
The Zero Carbon Hub, the body set up to administer the policy, is testing a range of definitions for what constitutes a zero-carbon home and the government is expected to deliver a decision on the final definition in the coming months.
It had been widely expected that under the rules of the scheme builders would be required to deliver 70 per cent of the required emission reductions through energy efficiency and onsite renewable energy technologies, with the remaining 30 per cent achieved through payments into a fund earmarked for community-scale renewable energy projects.
But according to reports in the Guardian this week citing officials at the Department of Communities and Local Government, the government has come under pressure from homebuilders who believe the rules in their current form will still add up to 20 per cent to the price of a new home.
As a result, the government is reportedly preparing to water down the target by allowing builders to meet a larger chunk of their zero-carbon obligations through offsite renewable energy projects paid for through the community fund.
Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, Simon McWhirter, homes spokesman at green lobby group WWF, said the building industry was guilty of “a classic example of industry muscle being thrown around” to undermine a “talismanic” environmental policy.
“The government is looking at the 70 per cent target again, but almost exclusively from an economic perspective,” he said. “We are very concerned that it will be watered down
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