According to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), there need to be improvements made by UK homes in regards to emission reduction and meeting required standards. This is so greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced and targets can be met with regards to climate change.
What information does the report include regarding emission reduction?
They recently published a report that claimed unless changes are made by UK homes to reduce the emissions they’re currently exposing to the atmosphere, there are fears that the UK won’t meet the legally binding obligations.
The report covered over 29 million homes in the UK and found that emission reduction within the homes has come to a halt. In fact, between 2016 and 2017 the use of energy in homes has actually increased causing increased pressure on the government to make improvements so that the UK can be prepared for climate change.
Recommendations made in the report by the CCC includes providing cost-effective upgrades for UK homes so they’re encouraged to make improvements. The issue is that these need to be issued quicker to homeowners as the rate of climate change increases and the earth’s temperature continues to get higher. This can easily lead to flooding in some areas also.
The report addressed these issues in further detail. In fact, it was reported that 4.5 million home was expected to overheat in the Summer, even when it’s cool. On top of this, 1.8 million homes were situated in areas where there are flooding risks which is extremely dangerous considering out of all European countries, the UK consumes the most.
The main causes and criticisms as to why circumstances have come down to this are mainly from stalls in home insulation installations and poor UK building standards. Due to the lack of resources in local authorities, it has delayed the construction of energy efficient homes also.
What were the main resolutions outlined?
As part of a resolution, the CCC has identified that where improvements could be made is through reducing the construction skill gaps and enforcing better building standards. As a priority, other elements where the CCC feel that improvements could be made includes addressing the problem straight away in the construction phase when building homes, making them water and energy efficient. Local authorities could also be funded better and improvements can be made to existing homes.
The report was conducted by the CCC after fears that the UK isn’t meeting the requirements in order to reach climate change targets.