NHF sounds carbon target warning

The private sector must do more to commit to the government's environmentally-friendly construction targets if a key objective is to be met on time, the National Housing Federation (NHF) has said.

Developers should be legally obliged to conform to greener practices in order that the government's target of making all new builds carbon-neutral by 2016.

The NHF has advised that there remains a significant discrepancy between the number of new homes being built to zero-carbon standards by housing associations (92 per cent) and the private sector (just two per cent).

"Currently, private developers are not being compelled to meet minimum standards on greenhouse gas emissions at all," commented NHF chief executive David Orr.

"It's time that ministers legally locked private developers into the same timetable as housing associations," Mr Orr added.

The government is planning to build three million new homes by 2020, with its zero-carbon goal part of a wider target to cut CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.


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