Before you invest time and money proceeding with a carbon reduction plan, find out what information the UK Government now demands from your company.
London
15 July 2010
New report highlights how companies are making the most of the new emissions regulation in the UK
Before you invest time and money proceeding with a carbon reduction plan, find out what information the UK Government now demands from your company.
Roughly 5000 businesses with a presence in the UK are now being held accountable for their greenhouse gas emissions. The introductory phase of the Government’s CRC Energy Reduction Scheme commenced this April.
Pro-active sustainability and facility managers have been preparing their compliance strategy for years, and engaging in the two-year Government-facilitated consolation process.
DECC is confident in the new scheme but cautions that it requires a slow transition in areas such as mandating a specific methodology: “Those organisations that have been converting energy to carbon using different conversion factors and choose to align themselves with CRC have a number of years to adjust or explain the reasons for any change in their figures,” according to CRC Team interviewee.
DECC’s omission of onsite renewable energy from the CRC is another common complaint.
BT claims that this poses a significant cost for them as they recently installed wind turbines across its UK exchange sites. Emissions from onsite electricity must be calculated at the full rate (emissions of normal grid electricity).
This exclusion of renewable energy avoids double counting. The Government incentivises investment in renewable energy through Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs), which fall under a separate policy.
Forgoing the ROCs would be the equivalent of BT paying around £80/tonne of CO2, as opposed to £40-£60/tonne of CO2 if it used its ROCs.
Methods and treatment of renewable energy are not the only contested points. Additional reservations discussed by big businesses in this 2010 report include fears that some companies will try to game the associated carbon trading system, franchiser responsibility of franchisee emissions and exclusion of transport.
Get your free CRC report summary here to fully understand complexities and contradictions with the scheme. The report contains the information needed to adapt your company's emissions reduction strategy accordingly, be listed at the top of the annually-published league table and save money through energy efficiency.
You will gain access to emissions reduction and compliance strategies from:
• McDonalds,
• SAP,
• Land Securities,
• Alliance Boots,
• ASDA,
• Sainsbury’s,
• Ecotricity,
• ITV
• ... and more
More information about this research is available at www.ethicalcorp.com/CRC.
Contact:
Pam Muckosy
Head of Research
+44(0) 207 375 7230
Research@ethicalcorp.com