Report suggests that home CO2 emissions could be slashed by 2050
December 10, 2007
A report commissioned by the environment campaign group Friends of the Earth and The Co-operative Bank has concluded that carbon dioxide emissions from UK homes could be slashed by 80% by 2050.
The report, prepared by Dr Brenda Boardman at the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute, is entitled Home Truths and sets out a blueprint for delivering carbon cuts from UK homes in addition to eradicating fuel poverty, creating jobs, cutting energy bills and increasing fuel security.
The report was commissioned as part of The Big Ask Campaign for a strong climate change law, and the launch of the report was timed to coincide with Parliament's debate on the Climate Change Bill, which began on 27 November 2007.
According to the report, carbon dioxide emissions from the housing sector have risen by more than 5% since 1997 and account for 27% of the UK's carbon footprint.
Home Truths says that current government policies will only deliver half the cuts in household carbon emissions they should have achieved by 2020 and policies aimed at tackling emissions from the UK's 25.8 million existing homes are judged to be particularly weak, despite the fact that existing homes will make up over three-quarters of the housing stock in 2050.
The report outlines a comprehensive policy framework at local, national and EU level for cutting carbon emissions from new and existing homes. It argues that initial government spending of £12.9 billion a year, for approximately ten years, can deliver 80% cuts in carbon emissions, eliminate fuel poverty and provide permanent energy savings from UK homes worth £12.3 billion a year.
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