Autumn Statement a missed opportunity to get energy bills and carbon emissions under control 

UKGBC responds to the Autumn Statement which was announced by the Chancellor, Jeremey Hunt, on 22nd November 2023 and set out the Government’s economic priorities for the next year

Responding to the Statement, Simon McWhirter, Deputy Chief Executive at UKGBC said: 

The government heard the furious backlash to its green policy rollback last month; and this was a chance to realise scale of their error by shoring up protections for struggling households and small businesses and get energy bills and carbon emissions under control.  

“It’s not that the Government hasn’t been presented with the ideas to address the problem. Industry has been offering oven-ready policy proposals such as modernising Stamp Duty with a ‘rebate to renovate’ incentive for households that would accelerate home insulation, cut our reliance on polluting fossil fuels, and motivate people to switch to low carbon heating and install solar panels – all while also ‘backing British businesses’ by creating a large-scale, long-term retrofit market to support industry and deliver skilled jobs throughout the country. We hope it will be announced in the Spring Budget.”  

Changing permitted development rights to allow buildings to be converted into flats could boost available housing. But these conversions mustn’t leave people crammed into unsuitably small spaces without natural light and they must meet decent standards of insulation and ventilation as well as low carbon heating.“

Learn more about the proposals for an Energy Saving Stamp Duty Incentive here.

Home Retrofit

With time running out to keep global temperatures to 1.5 degrees, upgrading the nation’s homes is one of the biggest opportunities the UK has to reduce carbon emissions whilst tackling the cost-of-living crisis, energy security and levelling up.
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Policy & Advocacy

UKGBC works with our members and with policymakers at all levels across the UK to advocate for a built environment that meets the challenges of the climate and ecological crises
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