Committee on Climate Change outlines recommendation for new homes

26 June, 2020

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has published its 2020 progress report to Parliament on the UK’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions over the past year.

While the Committee, chaired by former Housing Minister, Rt Hon Lord Deben, acknowledges that important steps have been taken, it concludes that much more still needs to be done.

Published amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the report also provides specific guidance to Government on the importance of establishing a green recovery. It is vital that ministers use the opportunities presented by Covid-19 as a “defining moment in the fight against climate change”, the Committee warns.

Priorities

Following an investigation into the role of climate policies in the economic recovery, the report highlights five key investment priorities for the coming months:

• Low-carbon retrofits and buildings that are fit for the future
• Tree planting, peatland restoration, and green infrastructure
• Energy network strengthening
• Infrastructure to make it easy for people to walk, cycle, and work remotely
• Moving towards a ‘circular economy’

The Committee also identifies opportunities to support the transition and recovery by investing in the UK’s workforce and in lower-carbon behaviours and innovation through:

• Reskilling and retraining programmes
• Leading a move towards positive behaviours
• Targeted science and innovation funding

Recommendations

Underpinning these suggestions are targeted and specific recommendations to individual Government departments. A summary of some of the suggestions relevant to the home building industry can be found below:

Buildings standards

• The Committee suggests that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) should implement a strong set of standards that ensures buildings are designed for a changing climate and deliver high levels of energy efficiency and low-carbon heat for new and existing buildings, including:
  • Commitment to a robust definition of the Future Homes Standard which is legislated well ahead of 2025 and ensures no fossil fuels are burnt in new homes.
  • Introducing a new standard or regulation to ensure that overheating risk (in both the current and future climate) is assessed at the design stage of new-build homes or renovations. This should ensure that ‘passive cooling’ measures are prioritised over ‘active cooling’.
  • Ensuring that the remit of the new buildings safety regulator covers climate change mitigation and adaptation, and is equipped to monitor and enforce compliance with buildings standards.
  • Working with HM Treasury to ensure that local authorities are properly funded to enforce buildings standards.
  • Closing loopholes that allow homes to be built which do not meet the current minimum standards for new dwellings. Make accurate performance testing and reporting widespread, committing developers to the standards they advertise.

Embodied carbon in buildings

• MHCLG are advised to develop plans to rapidly scale up the levels of wood used in construction and support the assessment and benchmarking of whole-life carbon in buildings.

Buildings and Heat Strategy

• The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) should produce an ambitious Buildings and Heat Strategy to eliminate emissions from buildings through a clear direction for the next 30 years backed by standards, funding to make low-carbon heat pay, enabling measures (i.e. skills and green passports) and actions to drive immediate progress. The CCC will advise further on heat policy later this summer.
• HMT should work with BEIS on the Buildings and Heat Strategy and a strategy for net zero manufacturing to ensure that relative prices favour a shift to low-carbon technologies, that sufficient funding is available and to consider the role of tax incentives (e.g. Stamp Duty differentials).

Climate adaptation

• MHCLG should:
  • Set a national target for increasing the area of urban greenspace
  • Clarify how national planning policy will manage the risks and impacts of flooding and coastal erosion.
  • Review new build regulation standards to allow local authorities to set more ambitious standards for water consumption, especially in current and future water-stressed areas.
  • Put in place a statutory consultee for assessing new development in areas of surface water flood risk.

Hydrogen use

• BEIS should develop a strategy for low-carbon hydrogen use (across power, industry, transport and buildings), production and infrastructure, aiming for largescale hydrogen trials to begin in the early 2020s.

Skills

• Working with DWP, DfE and the Home Office, BEIS should develop a strategy for a Net Zero workforce that ensures a ‘just transition’ for workers transitioning from high-carbon to low-carbon and climate resilient jobs, integrates relevant skills into the UK's education framework and actively monitors the risks and opportunities arising from the transition.
• This strategy should include the development and roll-out of plans for training and skills, with buildings and manufacturing being priority areas.

Funding

• HM Treasury (HMT) should ensure the forthcoming National Infrastructure Strategy is fully consistent with the UK's Net Zero and climate adaptation objectives, in particular on buildings energy efficiency, where funding is likely to be needed beyond manifesto commitments.

Next steps

In the report, the Committee explains that the list of recommendations is neither exhaustive nor intended to be prescriptive. They are instead, the Committee says, intended to provide a clear list for Ministers and officials to guide their planning and for the Cabinet Committee to hold departments to account.

The report can be read in full here.

Progress against these recommendations will be reviewed in June 2021. As always, HBF will keep members updated.

Emma Ramell

Policy and Public Affairs Manager