Net Zero
The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) defines the Net Zero target as being achieved when “the amount of carbon emissions associated with a building’s operational energy on an annual basis is zero or negative.”
The Government has legislated a national target of achieving Net Zero by 2050.
With existing buildings contributing between 40% of the UK’s total carbon emissions annually (UKGBC), the real estate industry must not be daunted by the Net Zero challenge, but should take proactive, systematic steps towards targeting carbon reduction for all buildings.
Net Zero Watch
We all want to know how the UK is going to pay for the Net Zero Targets.
Will the Government actually put in place any real plans or just more wishful thinking until it is too late!
An honest discussion on costs is the only way forward.
We cannot pretend the costs are within our means - they are not.
The public should not be kept in the dark about the cost of any major decisions.
For real cost discussions we have provided this link to current articles that review the costs weekly:
Reports to Download
Net Zero and Sustainability
Design Guide – Net Zero Annex
To identify the standards for Net Zero (NZ) and Sustainability for the Government Workplace Design Guide to support and add to the content in the main body of the Guide. To have those Standards practically applied to all Government Estates buildings.
This document outlines how to pilot the NZ model and targets on an existing GPA building to define the technical requirements and guidance to support the delivery of Net Zero carbon buildings.
WORKMAN INSIGHTS:
NET ZERO BY 2050
Net Zero Asset Plans
Creating a framework to get your assets to Net Zero
Our Net Zero Asset Plan is a specific service to advise clients
how to achieve Net Zero at an asset level. Combining our
expertise and experience in property management (to identify
occupational improvements) and building consultancy (to
specify initiatives to reduce operational and embodied
carbon), we can create a specific pathway to achieving Net
Zero for your assets by 2050 – or sooner.
Building the Case for Net Zero
A feasibility study into the design, delivery and cost of new net zero carbon buildings.
This report presents the findings of a feasibility study that shines a light on the real-world implications for achieving new net zero buildings. It illustrates how new buildings can be designed to reach net zero performance targets and the effect this has on cost. The findings are intended to improve the collective understanding for the buildings sector and help build the case for new net zero buildings.
Latest News On Net Zero
Net Zero Watch ridicules ‘fantasy’ Carbon Budget. London 26 February 2025
Net Zero Watch has ridiculed the Seventh Carbon Budget, which was published today, saying that ‘it doesn’t rise much above the level of fantasy’.
The campaigning organisation says that the spending estimates are unaffordable, and are lowballed, because they are based on figures that bear no resemblance to anything seen in the real world.
The Climate Change Committee, which prepares the budget, says that capital expenditure on Net Zero projects will have to rise from around £18 billion today to over £40 billion by 2029, a level of expenditure that will then have to be sustained for a decade.
But Net Zero Watch director Andrew Montford says this is unaffordable:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is already running out of spending headroom. For the Climate Change Committee to commit the country by law to a financial excess on this scale shows that the whole Net Zero project is not grounded in reality.
And Mr Montford has discovered that even these figures are gross underestimates, because the Climate Change Committee is assuming dramatic reductions in the cost of renewable energy, despite the fact that the ongoing trend is upwards.
Andrew Montford said:
The Climate Change Committee are telling us that Net Zero is going to save us money, but it’s clear that they have simply invented numbers that will lead to that conclusion. This report is not worth the paper it’s printed on.
1. Real-world estimates of the cost of offshore wind (levelised costs) have been prepared by Net Zero Watch from audited financial accounts of windfarms.
2. Strike prices may be slightly lower than levelised costs because they are index linked and because windfarms can earn prices above their strike prices in various ways.
3. Ed Miliband is currently consulting on the possibility of extending windfarm subsidies to 20 years (from the current 15 years). This comes after the introduction of extra subsidies for windfarms in the shape of the Clean Industry Bonus scheme. These two factors are further indications that windfarm costs are rising, not falling.
Contact
Andrew Montford
07523 350729