Clause 19
Finance Bill
11:45 am
Edward Balls (Economic Secretary, HM Treasury; Normanton, Labour)
Encouraged by your good self, Mr. Gale, and by the hon. Lady, I shall continue. I am happy to respond in detail to the questions asked by the hon. Member for Wycombe and others.
I shall briefly put the proposal in context. We set ourselves a target to reduce overall carbon emissions in the UK by 60 per cent. from 1990 levels by 2050. More than 25 per cent. of all carbon emissions in the UK result from energy use in the home. In 2050, about one third of all homes will have been built after 2016. If we can ensure that all homes built after 2016 are zero carbon and that they will make no net carbon emissions, it will make a very significant contribution towards the 2050 objectives. In answer to a question asked by Opposition Members, if all new homes were zero carbon by 2016 the annual carbon saving would be 8 million tonnes a year, amounting to 90 million tonnes saved by 2050, which is a substantial potential contribution to meeting our environmental challenge.
I encourage Opposition Members, particularly the hon. Member for Ludlow, to be more confident and ambitious in backing our objective for zero-carbon homes, rather than starting from a position of scepticism and conservatism. Our ambition to have zero-carbon homes from 2016 is bold and radical, but I believe that it is deliverable and I shall explain why.
In recent years, we have used building regulations to improve the energy efficiency of new homes. Changes to the building regulations in 2006 achieved a 40 per cent. improvement on pre-2002 standards, and a 70 per cent. improvement on pre-1990 standards in the efficiency of new homes. However, this Government want to go further. In part, we will do that through regulations that require that by 2016 new build houses will meet the zero-carbon standard. As the hon. Gentleman knows—this is outside the scope of the Committee, but relevant to the debate—a consultation process on building regulations and the definition of zero-carbon homes is under way, led by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Guidance on six different levels of sustainability has been issued to help the industry. The strategy of the DCLG is to build the regulations up over time toward the level that will ensure the building of zero-carbon homes. Building regulations will play an important part in our achieving our objective. We will also, as we heard in the announcements that were made at the weekend, depend on local leadership. The Government’s objective is not to impose new planning requirements or new eco-towns on local communities but to encourage proposals for eco-towns to be made locally.
I urge hon. Members on both sides of the House to back such proposals rather than to be sceptical about them. It is crucial to build a cross-party consensus in our country on the importance of building sustainable homes. I am continually frustrated that, for all the talk, Opposition Members all too often appear to stand in the way of such developments. The right way forward is not to impose from the centre but to encourage local leadership. That is our objective in the eco-towns proposal.