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Petition To create a tax incentive to favour retrofit instead of demolition and new build
To 0% rate VAT on refurbishment projects total costs if they substantially reduce CO2e emission of the building; impose a 20% VAT for new build schemes, reduced to 5% if the build meets minimum passive house standard; to 0% rate VAT for all items on a regularly updated list of energy-saving products
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Since Brexit, UK has total freedom to use a differential VAT regime to address the climate emergency.
UK construction industry produces 40% of our total emissions; initial embodied carbon can account for 75% of lifetime emissions. Retrofitting is carbon-efficient but the current VAT regime privileges new build over refurbishment.
The government could also incentivize retrofit by removing the liability for VAT from all energy-efficiency products and simplify the processing for claiming back.
At 10,000 signatures...
At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition
At 100,000 signatures...
At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament