Balancing the tax system with Ireland’s climate goals: a case for incentivising retrofit over demolition
The CIOB is proposing that the Government use the tax system to incentivise the repair and restoration over the demolition of buildings, thereby reducing the embodied carbon footprint of Ireland’s built environment.
Urgent policy intervention is needed to decarbonise the built environment sector at the scale and pace required to achieve Ireland’s net zero targets. The built environment accounts for 37% of Ireland’s carbon emissions. Heating, cooling, and lighting buildings – operational carbon – accounts for 23% of national emissions, with the remaining 14% attributable to embodied carbon.To remedy this, the CIOB is calling for calling for demolition to be charged at the standard rate of 23% VAT, while repair and renovation activities remain at the reduced rate of 13.5%. Read the policy note below to find out more about our proposal.