The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has stated that the UK government should introduce tax changes to encourage commercial property owners to make their buildings more energy efficient.
In a report, the CBI suggests that variable business rates, that are in line with energy use, should be introduced. The report says: “In the short term, business rates for empty properties could be waived for those undertaking a refurbishment, which would improve the energy efficiency of the building.”
This suggestion has slightly come under fire by Patrick Brown, sustainability director at the British Property Federation (BPF). Mr Brown believes that even though variable rates are a good idea, they would be very difficult to implement, and the level of variation would have to be at least ten per cent in order for it to work efficiently as an incentive. He added that even though a business rates break could be an easy alternative, multi-tenanted buildings would still pose as a major complication.
The report further suggests that the government should aim to develop a non-domestic Green Deal much quicker than its current deadline of early next year. Currently, the scheme is a major source of finance for many households, but it is yet to establish itself within the commercial market.
The UK government has launched a series of energy regulation initiatives, such as the Energy Efficiency Deployment Office in February 2012, in order to help businesses overcome major energy-efficient problems and make huge cost savings in the process. However, industry analysts have suggested that more needs to be done in order to improve efficiency within the sector.
The energy efficiency market in the UK is worth £17.6 billion and employs around 136,000 people every year.