The United Kingdom have become the first major economy in the world to pass legislative law to end our contribution to global warming by 2050.
The United Kingdom has already reduced emissions by 42% compared from the 1990 levels. The new goal will be to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, The previous target of at least 80% from 1990 levels.
Green energy is at the heart of its modern industrial strategy, the government also claim that employment in the Green technology sector could grow by up to 2 million and the value of exports from the low carbon economy could well exceed £170 billion a year by 2030.
The UKs 2050 net zero target was recommended by the Committee on Climate Change, they are the UKs Independent climate advisory body.
The new legislation wont mean that every property will be zero carbon with renewables on every building for instance in our area, all emissions will be balanced by schemes to offset an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, such as Wind / Solar farms and the planting of more trees or using carbon capture and storage.
James Murray of Business Green said “This is a truly historic moment in the story that will define the century for us all and this is much bigger than many people realise. It is a moon shot, a war effort, an industrial revolution, a cultural transformation, all rolled into one.”
Martyn Reed, Elmhurst Managing Director, welcomes the introduction of this new law that supports the commitments that have been alluded to over the last two years within both the Industrial Strategy and the Clean Growth Strategy. Theresa May obviously wants to be remembered for something other than a failed Brexit and this is probably her best opportunity.
He goes on to say: “Elmhurst members have enjoyed a 23% increase in the volume of energy assessments and with this renewed commitment is has never been a better time to be involved with energy assessments”
BEST Compliance personal opinion on this is a positive but cautious on how to achieve this goal. We are set to take 20,000 tonnes of CO2 out the atmosphere this year through our EPC Alpha plus, however with no funding on commercial properties and in the current climate Landlords simply don’t have the luxury of significantly improving there properties.
We are also wary that a Green tax will be introduced on higher emitting properties to pay for the Net zero schemes and these potentially could be set from your EPC grade as at this moment in time they are the only recorded log of CO2 on buildings.
If this will be the case BEST Compliance are with the view that EPCs need to drastically improve from the benchmark energy view to actual energy usage reading very similar to how DECs are prepared, Using real bills. From our experience though, gaining 12 months’ worth of energy bills is extremely difficult, so EPC assessors may be able to use smart meters in the future to gain this information.
Overall though Theresa May will hopefully be remembered by Theresa’s Law rather than her Brexit failure, and we can be a world leader in the Green Sector along with China bringing jobs, products and all importantly a greener sustainable future.
Do You Think You Need a Commercial EPC?
If you think you’re business needs to be ready ahead of the new benchmark BEST Compliance will be happy to help Please call us on 0121 585 5211 or get a free Commercial EPC quote.