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.

This petition is closed This petition ran for 6 months

5,255 signatures

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10,000

Date closed 8 August 2021
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