The impacts of climate change will be particularly severe in the East of England. Therefore, it follows that the region should be at the forefront of measures to tackle this issue. We need to work in partnership to develop regional and local policies and actions to reduce emissions and to adapt to the effects of climate change.

Climate change is the biggest challenge facing the world and is increasingly the focus of global and local policy. The built environment is responsible for nearly half of the UK’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with domestic property being responsible for over a quarter.

Nationally and locally there is a growing expectation that local authorities, particularly through their role in Local Area Agreements and the planning system will play a significant community leadership role in achieving Government targets to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050 and ensure all new homes are zero carbon by 2016.

To help tackle emissions from the built environment partners in the region identified the need for a short introductory guide for planners and local authority councillors to low and zero carbon development. The Government Office for the East of England, Inspire East and the Academy for Sustainable Communities have worked with BRE to produce such a guide.

As national policy continues to develop and new technologies emerge, periodic revisions to the guide are planned. We would welcome your comments on how useful you find the guide and how we might improve it. Is it sufficiently detailed or broad? What practical guidance would you like to see added? Have you identified any training needs that would help your efforts to reduce carbon emissions? We have established a dedicated email address to which you can submit your comments:

lowcarbonguide@goeast.gsi.gov.uk

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