Reflections on a policy denouement: the politics of mainstreaming zero-carbon housing

We reflect on the decision to abandon the mainstreaming of zero-carbon house building in England, in the context of our paper (Walker et al. 2015) that took this long-standing policy commitment as its case study. We consider this denouement as further evidence of how the exigencies of capital accumulation resist moves towards low-carbon transition. We reflect on what it reveals about the relation between politics and governance, the grounding and locating of carbon responsibilities and the necessary role of the state in enabling the everyday reproduction of low-carbon living.