Government’s zero-carbon drive is ‘hot air’

A government drive to encourage the building of zero-carbon homes was dismissed by the opposition as ‘hot air’ after it emerged that only a handful of houses exist. The government had set a target that all new homes will be zero-carbon by 2016 and allocated £15 million towards tackling climate change, but figures disclosed to MPs reveal that only 18 properties have so far qualified for the stamp duty exemption. Critics have said that the problem was that the construction industry did not know what counted as a zero-carbon home.