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Act on CO2 advice line launched

Posted: 03/04/2008

The government is providing the Energy Saving Trust with more than £100 million over the next three years to deliver a broader programme for green homes. And to make it as easy as possible for people to make their homes greener Energy Secretary Hilary Benn has launched the Act on CO2 Advice Line. Anyone in England can call 0800 512 012 to access a one stop shop for free, tailored advice from the Energy Saving Trust on how to reduce their carbon footprint. Callers can also get advice on how to save water, reduce waste, green their travel, and connect to grants and offers from energy companies.

In addition, to demonstrate how communities can live a low carbon lifestyle the Green Neighbourhoods initiative will give a green makeover to up to 100 neighbourhoods in England which aim to reduce their carbon footprints by more than 60 per cent.

But environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth said that the emissions-cutting advice service can’t gloss over the government’s failings in helping homes to go green. The group said that while it supports the much-needed 'Act on CO2' initiative, it is underfunded, and isn’t a substitute for a comprehensive programme to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the housing sector.

Friends of the Earth however welcomed the Communities and Local Government Select Committee report which said the Government has given insufficient priority to tackling carbon emissions from the UK’s existing homes.

Low Carbon Homes campaigner Dave Timms said: "The Government must make major carbon dioxide cuts from the housing sector, which accounts for a quarter of UK emissions, if it has any hope of meeting its climate change targets. The new advice service launched today is a good initiative, but it can’t gloss over the failure of the Government’s unambitious and underfunded policies aimed at greening our homes.

“A national mobilisation of resources is needed to make all our homes warm, green and cheap to run. The Government must end fuel poverty, massively increase the grants and tax breaks available to help homes save energy, and revolutionise its approach to small scale renewable energy systems.”

Friends of the Earth pointed out that the Government has slashed £100m a year (or 25%) from the ‘Warm Front’ programme of grants for poorer families to install energy saving measures. This was recently condemned by the Government’s own Fuel Poverty Advisory Group.

The Good Homes Alliance (GHA), a group of developers committed to building and promoting sustainable homes and communities in the UK, also felt compelled to comment on the green homes initiative.

The GHA had previously welcomed the call by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee for the Government to “engage fully” with the problem of emissions from existing housing stock and not to get diverted by unrealistic targets for new housing. Consequently the group backed Hilary Benn’s proposal to upgrade current housing stock with measures such as improved insulation.

Neil May, GHA Chairman, commented “However, for the UK to benefit properly from such initiatives it is important that total environmental impact is considered, and also that the pioneer neighbourhoods are properly monitored and the resulting information is fully declared even if the results are not as expected. It is highly likely that some initiatives will not improve the environmental impact as proposed, because the interaction of humans with technology is complicated. For this reason the monitoring is even more important, so that we can learn what works and what doesn’t".

Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Steve Webb said of the initiative.. “It’s all very well setting up helplines to give people advice, but improving home insulation is expensive and the financial support being offered is woefully inadequate. Once again, the size of the government solution is dwarfed by the scale of the problem.

“We are not going to make any progress in the fight against climate change if we have to rely on piecemeal initiatives from a department that has no money and no power. DEFRA is forced to stand by while the rest of the Government supports policies that will accelerate climate change.

“Whilst Hilary Benn might want us to be more energy efficient, the Department for Business is supporting a new generation of coal-fired power stations. He wants us to cut our transport emissions but the Department of Transport is backing a new runway at Heathrow. DEFRA is a bit-part player in a Government that refuses to take climate change seriously.”

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