Sustainability drivers

The drivers that either force or encourage businesses and people to address sustainability can be grouped together into 2 spheres, each having either a 'push' or 'pull' effect. The first, legislation and standards, are mostly outside of the control of the property professional, investor, developer and end user and will mostly be common to all parties – the 'push'. The second, business drivers, are very much in the stakeholder's control and are the 'pull'. In recent years, the 'push' has been increasing, as has the 'pull' – a double whammy that has caused the big increase in sustainability in property over the last few years.

The legal references are explained in more detail on separate pages but from a global to a local level they are:

Kyoto Protocol and its successor

Under the Kyoto Protocol, the UK committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 12.5% below 1990 levels by between 2008 and 2012. This was extended in December 2012 at Doha until 2020 with new targets to be agreed by 2015 for levels beyond 2020.

These negotiations were concluded with a new legal agreement on climate change agreed at the UN Climate Change Conference COP21 in Paris, December 2015. The agreement states that there is an aim to limit global warming to well below 2°C and preferably to 1.5°C. It is due to come into force in 2020 and includes provision for governments to come together every 5 years to set more ambitious targets as required by science. See also isurv Climate change: adaptation and mitigation.)

EU Policies

All policies must have sustainable development as their core concern, while reviews of existing policies should determine how they can contribute more positively to sustainable developments – from A Sustainable Europe for a Better World: a European Strategy for Sustainable Development (COM (2001) 264 Final).

The EU had a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and is currently on course to achieve this. It had been proposed at climate change talks in March 2012 to increase this to 25%, but some countries currently heavily reliant on fossil fuels successfully argued to keep the lower figure. Indeed, it is also widely understood that the UK Government was also instrumental in lowering the target. Energy suppliers will also have to improve their energy efficiency by 1.5% per annum from 2014–2020, although they are allowed to include improvements made since 2012 (bringing the annual improvement closer to 1%).

However, there is a policy framework for the EU to achieve an 80–95% reduction in its CO2 emissions by 2050 with the road map setting out 'milestones' to reduce CO2 by at least 40% by 2030, 60% by 2040 and 80% by 2050. Renewable energy is targeted to be a 20% share of energy (and 10% of energy used in transport to be from renewable sources) by 2020. In October 2014 in Brussels, the EU countries progressed this further, with a legally binding agreement for:

• a 40% cut in CO2 by 2030, as previously proposed;
• a 27% improvement in energy efficiency by 2030;
• 27% of energy to come from renewable sources by 2030.  

There were countries arguing for stricter targets as well as some, again those more reliant on fossil fuels, arguing for lower targets. However, the result is that 28 member states now have legally-binding targets for 2030. These form part of the EU’s ‘intended contribution’ to the COP21 agreement.

EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) – which promotes the improvement of the energy performance of the buildings within the European Community has been updated (or ‘recast’ as it is referred to). The UK implemented the first version, through Energy Performance Certificates, DECs and the revised Part L of the Building Regulations.

The recast of the EPBD was phased in between 2011 and 2013 (on 9 January 2013 in the UK), has lowered the minimum size of buildings for which DECs apply (500m2 for public buildings) and requires 'near zero' buildings by 2020.

With the UK set to leave the EU before 31 March 2019, the raft of European legislation and directives that the UK currently complies with will need to be reassessed. All EU law is set to be brought into UK law under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act. However, this will not apply to EU guidance, only directives and regulations.

UK policies

The Climate Change Act 2008 became legally binding on 26 November 2008. The UK is to cut CO2 emissions by 34% by 2020 with 15% of energy to come from renewables; and a 50% reduction in CO2 by 2025 and total greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by 80% by 2050, with legally-binding carbon limits to be set for 5-year periods. In 2016 CO2 emissions fell by 5.8% after a 52% drop in coal use, with UK emissions now 42% below 1990 levels (and having hit the 2020 target in 2014; this has been mainly due to a reduction in coal used for central power generation and an increase in low carbon renewables).

The changing political and economic landscape in the UK has caused sustainable and green policies to ebb and flow over the last decade. In general, however, the current trend is still towards keeping to sustainable domestic policies. 

UK legislation

The Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004 provides 3 new purposes for which Building Regulations may be made.

Local planning authorities now required under planning policy document PPS1: Planning and Climate Change to view whether developments have suitably considered reducing carbon and minimising their impact on the environment. This could for example include compliance with certain BREEAM ratings or, increasingly, a set percentage of the energy use for the building to be supplied from a renewable source (adopted by the London Borough of Merton and known as the 'Merton Rule', when it was set at 10%). Where set this is typically 15% but in Greater London it is 35%.

In March 2015, the Code for Sustainable Homes was withdrawn by the government. Transitional rules are, however, in place for schemes that have planning permission with an obligation to comply with the Code.

The Code has in effect been replaced, in part, by new national Technical Housing Standards, also announced March 2015. These standards include optional building regulations that can be applied by local authorities for water efficiency, but can only be applied:

• where there is a local plan policy based on evidenced local need; and
• where the viability of development is not compromised.

The BRE subsequently launched a new voluntary sustainability standard known as the ‘Home Quality Mark’. This is a national standard for new homes using a 5-star rating system and was released in August 2016 in England (with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to follow). It is still in the early stages with schemes currently being registered.

Part L: Conservation of fuel and power was revised with effect from April 2014 with a further aggregate 9% reduction to take effect. There was originally intended to be a reduction of 25% but the pressure to create growth and not add any extra costs (whether perceived or real) lead to a final reduction that was lower than any of those put forward in the consultation documents. 

This was intended to be a stepping stone towards zero carbon homes, but in July 2015 the government announced in Fixing the foundations that it was scrapping the target of all new homes being zero carbon by 2016 and non-domestic being zero-carbon by 2019. There is no definite timeline for when Part L will next be updated, but it is likely to be by 2020. Therefore there is no fixed date for when, or even if, zero carbon buildings will be the new standard. Some local authorities are therefore taking it upon themselves to set targets within their planning framework, e.g. the Greater London Authority.

Arguably, the 2015–17 government took policy decisions that effectively watered down energy and carbon reduction commitments. While these may reduce construction costs and housing prices, it will leave a legacy of higher energy bills. It will also make it even harder to hit the UK’s target of reducing CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050 – energy consumption in homes is currently nearly a third and could rise to 55% of all CO2 emissions by 2050. The 2017 government’s shade of green has not yet become clear, given that Brexit has inevitably pushed other initiatives down the pecking order.

We have also seen Local Planning Authorities removing the need to comply with a certain BREEAM standard and instead focus more on CO2 reduction and more specific targets relevant to that particular authority or site, e.g. green roofs near SSSIs, green transport initiatives in built-up areas, etc. This is in part local government responding to reduced central government control over energy and CO2 reduction, using their powers to take matters into their own hands.

The increased power given to metropolitan-wide authorities through devolution, such as the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Greater Manchester Combined Authority among others, allows different but region-specific targets to be set across the UK. The GLA, for example, requires a 35% reduction in CO2 beyond the Building Regulations 2010 – this allows designers to produce the most cost-effective way of achieving this, often through a combination of reducing energy demand in the building, increasing insulation and the provision of renewable technologies (‘be lean, be clean, be green’). The GLA has a target in the London Plan and draft London Environment Strategy for non-residential buildings to be zero carbon from 2019; if they are not the developer will have to pay a financial contribution, currently proposed at £1,800 per tonne of CO2 but likely to increase to at least £2,400/tonne post-consultation. This will make it more economical to build the development as zero carbon rather than pay the contribution. This could represent one potential model for other sustainable local authorities to follow.