Construction wants role on Climate Change Committee

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has written to the government, requesting that the Committee on Climate Change, as proposed in the government's draft Climate Change Bill, should include expert representatives from the construction industry.

Michael Brown CIOB deputy chief executive said, "The Government has stated that the construction, occupation and maintenance of buildings account for around 50 per cent of the UK's total CO2 emissions, so it would seem sensible that the industry is well represented on any such committee on Climate Change.

"The CO2 target of a 60% reduction by 2050 and 26-32% by 2020 is welcome, but what we need is greater clarity on how we are measuring this performance. Targets are the obvious way to reach the solution, but as an industry we need something to aim for and we need to know how these targets breakdown and can be achieved.

The Government's draft Climate Change Bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative consultation. The Bill will give statutory force to the Governments targets for cutting emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. In addition the Bill will introduce five year carbon budgets, which will require the Government to set, in secondary legislation, binding limits on CO2 emissions during five year budget periods, begin from 2008.

The Bill will also establish a Committee on Climate Change to work with the Government to reduce emissions over time.