Policy Hub
On 27 November 2007, the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute (ECI) published a report (Home truths: a low-carbon strategy to reduce UK housing emissions by 80% by 2050) which assesses the Government’s record and sets out a blue print for delivering huge carbon cuts from UK homes while eradicating fuel poverty, creating jobs; cutting energy bills; and increasing fuel security.
Carbon dioxide emissions from the housing sector have risen by more than five per cent since 1997 and account for 27 per cent of the UK’s carbon footprint. Although the number of households living in fuel poverty initially fell under Labour, the figure has since increased to four million - double the number in 2002.
The report finds that current Government policies will only deliver half the cuts in household carbon emissions they should have achieved by 2020 and says that the Government has no policies for cutting emissions from homes in the longer term. The report outlines a comprehensive policy framework at local, national and EU level, for cutting carbon emissions from new and existing homes. It shows how initial Government spending of £12.9 billion a year for approximately ten years can deliver 80 per cent cuts in carbon emissions, the elimination of fuel poverty and provide permanent energy savings from UK homes worth £12.3 billion a year. The average household could see their energy bills cut by at least 66 per cent, equivalent to a £425 annual saving at
today’s prices. Investing in low-carbon homes will also help avoid damage from climate change which the Stern Report estimates could cost the UK economy over £100 billion a year by 2050
Home truths: a low-carbon strategy to reduce UK housing emissions by 80% by 2050 (PDF)
Executive summary (PDF)