Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, confirmed yesterday that the government will adopt targets to halve carbon emissions by 2025, with a goal of reducing emissions by 60 per cent by 2030. With a quarter of the UK's emissions coming from energy use in our homes, and with the majority of the homes that will be in place in 2025 already built, there is clearly a greater incentive than ever for the Goverment to deliver on the Green Deal.

Such ambitious targets will require a lot of investment in each home, and for take-up of the scheme on an unprecedented scale. This immediately calls into question the desirability of a cap on the finance available per property, and places a further onus on Government to encourage homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes through either incentives such as tax breaks, or through minumum standards (and possibly even a combination of both). A beefed-up Green Deal will also need to work effectively in tandem with other policies such as renewable energy feed in tariffs and the renewable heat incentive, which may now also require strengthening.

Both business and environmental organisations have long stated that in order to deliver the revolution in our homes that is intended, the Government must also include explicit targets for the Green Deal in the Energy Bill. The latest announcement makes the case for aggressive targets and bold policy-making stronger than ever.