SPONSORED BY
CARBON REDUCTION
COMMITMENT
Stamford Bridge played host to the latest Sustainable Business Round Table Debate,
where an interested gathering of business leaders joined together to discuss the
implications of one of the biggest pieces of environmental regulation to hit the UK in
years: the Carbon Reduction Commitment. Tom Idle reports on what happened
I
t is now referred to as the CRC Energy
Efficiency Scheme (previously Carbon
Reduction Commitment, or CRC) and from
April 2010, businesses that have at least one
half-hourly electricity meter settled on the
half-hourly market and during 2008
consumed more than 6,000 megawatt-hours of
electricity, will be affected. Formulating the
policy has been no easy task, not least because
the legislation is organisation-based, not
facility-based (like the European Union emis-
sions trading scheme (EU ETS)) and it has
caused the UK’s energy managers plenty of
sleepless nights.
The scheme has been designed to tackle
emissions not already covered by Climate
Change Agreements or the EU ETS and is
estimated to affect about 20,000 organisations.
The idea of the system is to improve energy
efficiency in business. It will operate as a ‘cap
and trade’ mechanism, providing a financial The debate proved a valuable forum for leaders to raise concerns and gain greater understanding
incentive to reduce energy use by putting a
price on carbon emissions generated by organisation involved in the scheme, the Laurent Mineau from EDF Energy were also
energy use. Companies and public sector consultation process has been fascinating. on hand to listen and offer their advice on the
organisations can buy allowances equal to This latest in a series of round table discus- risks and opportunities thrown up by the
their annual emissions and the overall emis- sion sessions, organised by Sustainable CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. For a com-
sions reduction target is achieved by placing a Business, succeeded in bringing together a plete list of participants, see over the page.
cap on the total allowances available to each group of affected businesses to thrash out Introducing proceedings, Professor Martin
group of participants in the scheme. some of their issues and concerns. We invited Fry, chairman of the Energy Services and
Within that overall limit, it is up to individ- a select group of firms – both large, small, Technology Association, called on Mackenzie
ual firms to work out the best way of being public and private – and Department of to explain what problems DECC had encoun-
compliant – either by buying extra allowances Energy and Climate Change (DECC) policy- tered while formulating the scheme’s frame-
or investing in greater energy efficiency meas- maker, Niall Mackenzie. Industry experts, work. “It is quite a complicated system,” he
ures. But with so many different types of Lynne Ceeney from Parsons Brinckerhoff and said. “Because it is an organisation-based
Sustainable Business 19❘ November/December 2009
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