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URGENT POLICY INTERVENTION IS NEEDED TO DECARBONISE THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT SECTOR AT THE SCALE AND PACE REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE NORTHERN IRELAND’S NET ZERO TARGETS, WRITES JOSEPH KILROY, POLICY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER IRELAND AT THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF BUILDING…
Reducing operational and embodied carbon emissions in Northern Ireland’s built environment
Operational emissions - heating, cooling and lighting buildings – in the residential sector account for 13.7% of national emissions in Northern Ireland. A combination of the poor condition of an ageing housing stock, with the sources of energy used for residential fuel, means that Northern Ireland has an acute residential operational emissions problem. According to the 2016 House Condition Survey, 99% of dwellings in Northern Ireland had central heating of which 68% was oil-fired, 24% was gas central heating, and 8% was solid fuel, electric and fuel systems. By comparison, only 4% of households in England and Wales rely on oil. Residential emissions in Northern Ireland are a confluence of several policy issues: an ageing housing stock; high levels of fuel poverty; poor health outcomes; lack of natural resources; and high dependence on imported fossil fuels. Positively, this convergence of socio- economic problems in the residential sector means policies that target residential emissions will have wider benefits beyond achieving climate targets. New building energy-efficiency standards for Northern Ireland were introduced in 2022, requiring the energy efficiency of new houses to be improved by 40%, new flats by 25%, and new buildings other than dwellings by 15%. These standards mean operational carbon
from new build properties are being reduced successfully. Nevertheless, the vast majority of Northern Ireland’s housing stock was built before their introduction. Domestic dwellings in Northern Ireland currently use more energy per unit than anywhere else in the UK or Ireland. To achieve national climate targets, a peak of 50,000 homes will need to be retrofitted annually in Northern Ireland, around three times the current level. At the macro level, CIOB has joined others in the construction sector to call for the Northern Ireland Assembly to draw up a national retrofit strategy. This strategy could consolidate all the different measures needed to retrofit the country’s existing housing stock into a coherent plan. At the micro level, the CIOB has proposed two measures that could form part of such a strategy. Firstly, to deal with operational emissions, we are proposing to defer stamp duty liability on properties that have been purchased with the sole purpose of improvement. Once the enhanced property has been resold, the stamp duty liability is paid. The crux of the proposal is to encourage investors to fix up older, less energy-efficient stock for resale, thereby creating a ‘green flipping’ business model, providing an additional incentive to retrofit, and increasing the overall number of residential retrofits.
A significant proportion of emissions from the built environment come from embodied carbon. Embodied carbon emissions are the carbon emitted in the building process - from mining, quarrying, transporting and manufacturing building materials, and the demolition of buildings - and require a firm policy response. Under the UK’s current tax structure, a reduced rate of 0% VAT is applied to demolition, while 20% VAT is applied to repair and maintenance. This creates a perverse environment where carbon-hungry demolition is given taxation priority over more sustainable repair and restoration options. This contradicts the principles outlined in the Climate Change Act (NI) 2022 and the 2022 Circular Economy Strategy for Northern Ireland. As a remedy, CIOB is proposing the Northern Ireland Government use its devolved powers to implement a demolition levy – one that bypasses the current devolution settlement around tax – to level the unequal playing field that threatens the sustainability of our built environment. Neither measure is a total solution and would need to exist within a suite of complementary measures if operational and embodied emissions are to be effectively reduced. Nevertheless, making our current policy and legislation consistent with our emissions targets may be among the least painful places to start.
Joseph Kilroy, CIOB Policy and Public Affairs Manager for Ireland and Northern Ireland M: +353 (0)87 119 4475 - E: jkilroy@ciob.org www.ciob.org
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