Keep funding green homes to meet emissions target, say businesses

(The Guardian, 22 Feb 2021) CBI, Energy UK and others tell chancellor cutting scheme will risk target of net zero emissions by 2050.

Business groups are urging the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to keep funding home insulation and other low-carbon measures under the green homes grant, which is under threat from cuts.

They warned that moves to reduce the amount of money paid out under the scheme, or abandon it altogether, would make it harder to reach the government’s target of net zero emissions by 2050, and damage the UK’s credibility as host nation of this year’s Cop26 UN climate summit and president of the G7 group of rich nations.

“Only a long-term programme can provide the economic, social and environmental benefits associated with a focus on green homes, support the government’s important levelling-up agenda, and make real progress towards achieving the net zero target,” wrote the 25 organisations, in a letter to Sunak seen by the Guardian. “The UK has made commitments to a green recovery, and risks undermining its credibility on the global stage at the Cop26 and G7 summits if it allows its keystone green stimulus measure to fail.”

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The Guardian, 22 Feb 2021: Keep funding green homes to meet emissions target, say businesses