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Government walks away from zero carbon homes and the Green Deal

An early end for two programmes designed to improve domestic energy efficiency 

Two key government programmes to improve the energy performance of new and existing homes have been terminated; one in order to accelerate planning decisions for house building and the other due to the poor take-up of the scheme.

First, the government has quietly abandoned key measures designed to facilitate a move to zero carbon new homes by 2016. A Treasury document, Fixing the foundations, published in July says that, in order to speed up planning decisions: ‘The government does not intend to proceed with the zero carbon Allowable Solutions carbon offsetting scheme, or the proposed 2016 increase in on-site energy efficiency standards, but will keep energy efficiency standards under review, recognising that existing measures to increase energy efficiency of new buildings should be allowed time to become established.’

The two measures were designed to ensure that all new homes built from 2016 meet zero carbon standards; their abandonment effectively ends the whole zero carbon initiative, at least in the short-term.

The move was met with widespread condemnation. Julie Hirigoyen, Chief Executive of the UK Green Building Council, said: ‘This U-turn not only means our new buildings will be less energy efficient and more costly to run, but it comes at a time when the UK should be taking strong action on climate change ahead of the UN conference in Paris in December.’

Second, also in July, the government decided to end funding for the Green Deal Finance Company and to stop any future funding releases of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund. The move almost certainly signals an end to the controversial Green Deal home energy improvement scheme, launched in 2013 as a ‘transformational scheme, but dogged by poor take-up. 

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said the move was a reaction to low take-up and concerns about industry standards, and to protect taxpayers. Future schemes would have to provide better value for money, it said.

Business Secretary, Sajid Javid in June confirmed that the government is to begin the process of moving the Green Investment Bank (GIB) into private ownership by starting to bring private capital into the Bank. Since its inception in 2012, GIB has committed £2bn and helped to finance 50 green infrastructure projects.
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