Committee on Climate Change

There are approximately 26 million homes in the UK and they account for around a quarter of the UK’s CO₂ emissions.  Emissions from homes need to fall by over a third on today’s levels by 2022 in order to meet carbon budgets.

There is significant potential to cut emissions from existing homes by improving energy efficiency. This also provides important economic benefits and helps save money on energy bills.  Many of the measures that can be taken in homes can be implemented cheaply and result in quick paybacks.

Take a tour around the Energy Saving Trust's interactive house which illustrates what you can do in and outside the home to use energy more efficiently and reduce emissions.

The Energy Saving Trust has estimated how much money  people could save by improving the energy efficiency of their homes.

In our 2009 progress report we stressed the need for a new policy framework to deliver a much higher level of ambition on energy efficiency. We outlined that the key features of the new policy should include:

• A whole house approach where each house is given an energy audit to assess its carbon saving potential.
• A “street by street” approach to engage communities in cutting emissions.
• New financing mechanisms to overcome the barrier of upfront costs of low carbon measures.   

The Committee’s advice in these sectors:

• The CCC’s  most recent analysis of residential buildings is in Chapter 5 of the fourth budget report
• Chapter 3 of the CCC’s 2010 progress report to parliament.
• Chapter 5 of “Meeting carbon budgets – the need for a step change”.
• Chapter 6 of the CCC’s first report “Building a low-carbon economy – the UK’s contribution to tackling climate change”.