Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 23
Third Report - Growing back better: putting nature and net zero at the heart of the economic recovery
Published 17 Feb 2021
Paragraph 172
Environmental Audit Committee Greening the post-Covid recovery All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government must ensure that its ‘build, build, build’ agenda has, at its heart, a commitment to delivering truly sustainable development by promoting the construction of low-carbon homes fit for a changing climate. We recommend that the Government introduce embodied carbon targets for the construction of new homes, so as to increase demand for low carbon materials, thereby stimulating growth in low- emission manufacturing of traditional, local materials and promoting the use of new low carbon materials.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Third Report - Growing back better: putting nature and net zero at the heart of the economic recovery (HC 347), paragraph 172, 17 February 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 22 June 2021 (deadline 17 April 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and says many recommendations are "in line with existing policies", while setting out where it is already acting and where it takes a different or conditional position.
- On legally binding environmental targets, the government says the Environment Bill places a duty to set at least one target in each of four priority areas, and is "working towards a public consultation" with proposed targets for publication in early 2022.
- On climate disclosures, BEIS "intends to lay the SI by the end of this year", with regulations coming into force on 6 April 2022.
- On reducing VAT for repairs and green home upgrades, the government sets out cost and fiscal considerations, says "Going further would come at a cost to the Exchequer", and points to existing reduced rates and schemes.
- On carbon border adjustments, it says such mechanisms are one possible approach but "it is not yet clear" how one could comply with trade obligations and how effective it would be.