“The commitment to Zero Carbon remains in place - there's no ambiguity about that...we can now say that zero carbon homes by 2016 is not just an abstract theoretical goal, but that new homes really will be zero net contributors to C02 in reality too.”
Housing Minister Grant Shapps (Feb 1 2011)
Today's budget saw the self-declared "greenest government ever" scrap their commitment to zero carbon homes. This is yet another sorry erosion in the push for a more sustainable future. The government is striving for economic growth yet this back tracking has dealt a severe blow to one of the countries biggest growth sectors. Mr. Osborne need only look at this year’s ecobuild to see how the innovation of home grown companies has lead to such advances and subsequent growth of this market.
This U-turn was glossed over by the formation of the green investment bank and an a injection of £3 billion into risky green projects. This money is welcome but it is not on a par with the whole scale level of change required to cut our addiction to carbon which 'zero carbon homes' promised.
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