Monday 4 September 2017

British homes ‘a century off going fully green’

At the current rate of progress, it will take a century for British homes to go green enough to meet international climate obligations.

That's according to the WWF, which claims the UK needs to triple the rate of insulating its homes to meet the Paris Agreement targets.

It added domestic properties account for a fifth of all climate emissions - without new policies to make them more efficient, these emissions could be 3% higher in 2030, way off the 10% fall required.

There is public support for stepping up energy efficiency - 86% of people believe that saving energy in the home is important and 72% of people say they would insulate their homes if subsidies were available.

The WWF says the government's ‘Clean Growth Plan’ needs to set out a strategy to ensure at least four million homes are improved by 2025 and suggests financial incentives could help with this.

Gareth Redmond-King, Head of Energy and Climate at WWF said: "Stopping climate change should start at home – in fact, it should start in people’s homes.

"The Clean Growth Plan must prioritise giving support to people to make sure their homes use as little energy as possible; otherwise, our homes really will cost the earth."