Union action on climate change - a trade union guide (September 2019)

Chapter 3

Energy efficiency

[ch 3: pages 47-48]

A 2017 TUC Congress motion (see page 9) called for a mass programme of retrofit and insulation of Britain’s homes and public buildings and in September 2018, the Labour Party published an expert briefing note on achieving 60% renewable and low carbon energy in the UK by 2030 through wind, solar and energy efficiency.

At the heart of the strategy is a nationwide building upgrade programme to bring all homes in the UK up to the highest energy efficiency standards by 2030. The immediate priority will be areas with high fuel poverty and low-quality housing. The second will be homes with the lowest energy performance. As well as a concerted retrofit programme, it also proposes codes for all new buildings requiring Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) A/B (A is the highest performance, G the lowest) from the start of a Labour government.

It estimates that a domestic retrofit programme for homes would result in 160,000 more jobs per year in 2030 than there are today, including direct and indirect.

Labour Party, Achieving 60% renewable and lowcarbon energy in the UK by 2030 (https://www.labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Achieving-6025-by-2030-final-version.pdf)


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