黑洞社区

Industry experts have joined a growing backlash against Rishi Sunak鈥檚 failure to set out more green measures in last week鈥檚 Budget.

Construction trade bodies have criticised the chancellor for not including a national retrofit strategy in his announcement despite the government pledging a 鈥済reen industrial revolution鈥� in November last year.

Sunak also made no mention of the government鈥檚 flagship 拢3bn Green Homes Grant scheme for energy efficiency improvements to homes, which has been widely criticised for its low uptake among both householders and construction firms.

UK Green 黑洞社区 Council chief executive Julie Hirigoyen said the Budget had been 鈥渟ilent鈥� on addressing construction鈥檚 contribution to carbon emissions.

> Opinion: What the budget says about green priorities

> Also read: CLC to push for national retrofit strategy after Budget silence

She told 黑洞社区: 鈥淭he chancellor unveiled a whole range of instruments to restart the economy after the pandemic 鈥� from retraining schemes to tax incentives - but unfortunately he missed the chance to tie these directly to achieving a net zero transition and to the 鈥榞reen industrial revolution鈥� we have been promised.鈥�

鈥淭he Budget was silent on addressing the carbon impact of the construction industry and the huge part that greening our buildings can play in delivering our post-covid economic recovery.鈥�

She added: 鈥淚n the year of [the UK] hosting [climate change conference] COP, the UK should be investing in world-leading policies, not missing opportunities.鈥�

Federation of Master Builders chief executive Brian Berry told 黑洞社区 he was 鈥渄isappointed鈥� there had been no mention of a national retrofit strategy in the Budget, adding: 鈥淚t would have been nice to have a nod.鈥�

He warned the government would miss its 2050 net zero targets unless something is done to improve the energy efficiency of existing housing stock, which currently accounts for 20% of the UK鈥檚 carbon emissions.

He added: 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got to be ambitious about trying to put measures in place to deliver zero carbon, because we鈥檙e tackling new build but we鈥檙e not doing anything with our existing building stock.鈥�

The comments come after British Property Federation chief executive Melanie Leech told The Times last week that Sunak had 鈥渕issed a trick by ignoring calls to zero-rate VAT on repairs and maintenance of residential buildings鈥�.

She added the policy 鈥渃ould have been the most impactful tax change to support the improvement of both the energy efficiency and health and safety standards of our homes鈥�.

Boris Johnson upgraded his climate targets carbon cutting targets in December last year, pledging to cut the UK鈥檚 emissions by a further 15% by the end of the decade and claiming that the government was 鈥渢aking the lead鈥� in a global effort to fight climate change.

But the prime minister is now under pressure to explain why there was so little emphasis on green policies in the Budget given that the UK will host November鈥檚 UN climate change conference (COP26) in Glasgow.

Berry told 黑洞社区: 鈥淲hat is [the government] going to do at COP26? What is the prime minister going to say when he stands on the world stage talking about climate change, is he going to talk about the Green Homes Grant scheme?鈥�

Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank last month found that the Green Homes Grant will help just 8% of its target 600,000 households switch to renewable energy by the end of this month.

The Treasury has said it will remove 拢2bn of funding from the scheme this month, leaving just 拢320m until it comes to an end in March 2022.

At the current rate of approval, this means that a maximum of 124,000 households could be given grants for home improvements by the end of the scheme, which would be around 20% of the programme鈥檚 target households.

The scheme allows householders to apply for vouchers worth up to 拢10,000 to help pay for installation of energy efficiency improvements, including insulation and heat pumps.