Feed–in tariffs and income tax rebates for green improvements to homes have been voted to be the most effective and actionable financial incentives to sustainability by the high profile Think Tank.
The policy of Dave Timms of Friends of the Earth and that of John Doggart of the Sustainable Energy Academy were two of eight presented at the Think Tank event held on the 1st May. This was the second of two breakfast seminars, jointly hosted by Think 08 and UK-GBC and sponsored by Mott MacDonald in the run-up to the main Think exhibition and conference taking place on the 7th and 8th May at ExCeL in London’s Docklands. These policy proposals will feed into the Think plenary session on the 8th May with Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Dave Timms, of Friends of the Earth proposed that feed-in tariffs such as those in Germany should be introduced to make renewable technologies significantly more cost-effective to install. The scheme proposes that electricity utilities buy renewable electricity at above market rates set by the government. This in turn encourages micro-generation to boost sustainable energy production and engineers a sea change in public attitudes to energy use. The success of Dave’s suggestion comes the day after 30 Labour MPs voted against the Government in favour of an amendment to the Energy Bill to introduce feed-in tariffs.
John Doggart, chairman of the Sustainable Energy Academy suggested that homeowners should be given income tax rebates for installing energy efficient home improvements. Early adopters would be given as much as a 60% rebate to incentivise them to make their house more energy efficient. The relief would taper to 15% over a suggested period of 8 years making the scheme easy to understand, cheap and easy to administer. A similar scheme is currently in operation in France (Article 90 of Finance Bill 2005 and Article 83 of Finance Bill 2006). John quipped that “the cost to initiate the proposal is £144, the price of a return ticket on the Eurostar to Paris to pick up a copy of the legislation.”
The Think Tank, heard presentations from a number of advocates – from campaigners to industry representatives – on a range of financial incentives that they believe could help drive sustainability in the future. Following a “Dragons Den” style format, the event saw each advocate present his/her preferred policy to a panel of three “dragons”, comprised of Paul King of the UK-GBC, Ashley Seager of The Guardian and David Johnston of Berwin Leighton Paisner. After each individual presentation, the advocate was asked a series of questions – by both panel members and the general audience - to establish the overall impact of a particular policy (politically and environmentally), and its workability, before voting took place.
The other advocates, and their preferred policies were:
Andrew Warren of ACE (stamp duty)
Andy Teache of British Property Federation (enhanced capital allowances)
Matt Prescott of Carbon Limited, RSA (personal carbon allowances)
Henry Oliver, Empty Homes Agency (housing & planning delivery grant for empty homes)
Brian Berry, FMB (cutting VAT on refurbishments)
Prof. Anne Power, Sustainable Development Commission (charging developers for development and demolition impact)
Speaking about the event, Paul King, Chief Executive of the UK-GBC, said, “Not only did the format prove an extremely lively one, but we have heard some great ideas and the advocates all argued their positions extremely effectively. The most popular seemed to be those that appeared easiest to administer and most politically realistic, although it might well be that several of the proposals could go hand in hand. I think the message here to Government is that there are a whole host of options out there that would reduce CO2 emissions in our existing homes and buildings.”
The first Think Tank seminar, held in February, looked at the financial barriers to sustainability in the built environment, taking into account the Budget and the impact of difficult economic times on green building. The need for financial incentives came out strongly from this seminar, for residents, occupiers and landlords, to take steps to improve the performance of their homes and buildings.
Commenting on the Think Tank, Kevin Dixon, Mott MacDonald’s director of sustainability said, “We’ve supported this initiative because we believe our industry has an obligation to address the fact that the built environment accounts for half of the UK’s CO2 emissions. We hope that the ideas for financial incentives shared today will indeed inspire action to move the sustainability agenda forward and help business play its part in reducing its contribution to climate change.”
The Think 08 exhibition and conference will run over 7 and 8 May at ExCeL. Following the success of 2007’s inaugural event, Think 08 will explore the economic, social and environmental challenges in delivering sustainable development, and look at the wider responsibilities of the property and construction industry in dealing with the issues of climate change, urban renewal and redevelopment.
Think Tank votes feed-in tariffs and income tax rebates preferred financial incentives to promote sustainability.
