Construction firms could get green tax exemptions

Chancellor George Osborne is preparing to announce a series of proposals to reduce the impact of green taxes on firms with high energy needs.

Cement, aluminium and steel makers will be among those who benefit from tax breaks and exemptions.

The measures will be announced in late November, when Osborne delivers his autumn statement.

A source close to the Chancellor told the Daily Mail: “We recognise that a decade of environmental laws and regulations have piled costs on the energy bills of energy intensive businesses.

“As well as increasing the climate change levy discount on electricity and reducing corporation tax, he will be announcing a package of measures to help energy intensive industries remain competitive in due course.

“There’s no point in forcing energy intensive industries to relocate to other countries – that would only harm our economy without reducing global carbon emissions.”

Michael Ankers, chief executive of the Construction Products Association, told Building he would be attending a meeting of construction industry figures and government officials tomorrow – the last to take place before the measures are made public.

He said he hoped companies would be granted a reduction in the Climate Change Levy, a charge on energy usage by businesses, noting, “we are allowed to make reductions within the European Union”.

Ankers added: “I also hope to see some capital investment to encourage companies to become more energy efficient – possibly with help from the Green Investment Bank.

“These are two important measures which we could see which could help our industry – and remember, the CCL is a tax specifically on energy users, so it’s not as if it’s giving money away, it’s just not making the tax as severe as it otherwise was.

“Because frankly, you don’t need a tax on energy – companies are reducing energy usage as much as they can anyway for purely commercial reasons. So to hammer tax on this is a little perverse anyway.”