| Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) |
The Government (DEFRA) is implementing a new scheme, called the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), to help to reduce carbon emissions, in a wide range of business and public sector organisations. The Qualification limit is currently all Mandatory HH metered sites with a total annual usage of above 6,000 MWhr/year (Approx annual spend of £500,000 a year.) If this figure is applicable, then all associated NHH sites will also be included in the scheme. Organisations included in the CRC will be part of a mandatory emissions trading scheme which will limit the overall CO2 emissions caused by energy use from around 5000 large organisations – which contribute almost 10% of the entire UK economy’s emissions. This scheme is designed to assist in the national effort to reduce the UK’s total carbon footprint, and will save at least 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2020. This scheme will be revenue neutral to the Exchequer with the auction revenue recycled to participants. A simple, end of year payment, with a bonus/penalty depending on position in a “league table” will be made to the participants. The League tables will be based on: • Emissions reductions relative to average annual emissions during the scheme, plus • Potential additional simple proxy metrics recognising early movers and growth. The final details of this scheme are yet to be finalised. The implementation timetable is as follows: • Consultation Closed Oct 07 • Government Response Feb 08 • Climate Change Bill in Parliament Nov 07 • Consultation on Draft CRC Regulations Summer 2008 • Draft CRC regulations in force 2009 • CRC Qualification year 2008 • Identification of CRC participants Start early 2009 • CRC scheme begins Jan 2010 The aim of this scheme is to improve energy management ahead of CRC and the following actions will be key to individual organisations success: Monitoring – Could your organisation do more voluntarily to roll out automatic metering? Do you log your energy bills centrally, to monitor total organisation wide energy use emissions? Can you produce year on year usage comparisons to show how effectively CO2 emissions are being managed? Energy efficiency – is your organisation a member of the voluntary Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme? Do you operate an internal staff awareness programme or encourage staff to use energy wisely? Over a third (36%) of UK workers are more likely to waste energy in the workplace. A recent survey of 1140 working adults found that despite people taking saving steps at home, such as switching off lights and not overfilling the kettle, when it came to the office, they tended to ignore these steps. This increased diligence in energy saving at home is down to responsibility and ownership of the energy bill each month. Despite threats of global warming, without the direct financial impact of energy bills to incentivise in the workplace, employees seem unwilling to take responsibility for the energy consumption. It could be the case that employees feel less pressure to be green at work because they are not directly accountable for the energy bills each month. Companies that wish to reduce their carbon emissions and cut costs should encourage their workforce to ensure they take basic steps towards saving energy. Switching off PCs overnight and using double sided photocopies and printouts are just a few of the ways UK businesses can be more energy efficient, as well make financial savings. Monarch are not responsible for any statement made in this publication. Data, discussions and conclusions developed by authors are for information only and are not intended for use without independent substantiating investigation on the part of potential users. Opinions expressed are those of the authors (or contributor to discussion) and are not necessarily those of Monarch |