IN ASSOCIATION WITH

tional structure and your legal structure. And then start mapping your energy use against that structure. Things will begin to fall into place after that.”

Dr Jonathon Foot, the company’s chief environment officer who has been leading EDF Energy’s in-house environmental impact reduction work, says that it’s a good idea to think about how future possible busi- ness changes could affect your CRC compli- ance too. This could include possible acqui- sitions or sales of company subsidiaries which needs to be taken into account. EDF Energy has set itself some tough cli- mate change targets, notably to reduce the carbon intensity of its legacy electricity pro- duction by 60% by 2020. Of course, the majority (99%) of those emissions will be taken care of by the EU ETS. Emissions from the head offices and depots are responsible for the other one percent and the company prom-

’ ‘

This is new and we know it’s going to cover a lot of businesses that haven’t been under the aegis of environmental regulation in any form before

ises to reduce these by 30% in the next two years.

For product development manager, Sarah Bee, the CRC has provided a “national frame- work that everyone can participate in”. “Rather than everyone doing their own thing, it gives a definite commonality for peo- ple.” Foot agrees. “The CRC has given us added impetus,” he says, while recognising that the firm’s work in this area over the last few years means that a lot of the structures needed to cope with the new regulation are already in place. They’ve even rolled out a major investment programme to install auto- matic meter-reading (AMR) equipment to cover all major offices, and this is likely to be extended to some of the smaller depots too. “We initially installed meters that we thought would deliver the most benefit,” says Foot. “But because AMR installation is one of the early action metrics for the CRC, we are increasing that installation programme.” This activity makes EDF Energy well placed to appreciate the challenges its customers face as they enter a new era of energy regulation. And it has developed products and tools to help them, including its Café Energy seminars – half- day workshops to explain the implications of the CRC – which have attracted more than 1,000 customers so far. Businesses can also use

ARE YOU READY FOR THE CRC?

Simon Harris, manager, environment

and sustainability team, group property,

Royal Bank of Scotland Group

Are you happy with the finalised CRC regulation?

I would change the onus on subsidiary reporting to define only those within immediate parent company control, for example, those contributing directly to profit and loss. For financial institutions, the requirement as written is far too wide and onerous.

What energy management activity have you been doing?

We have a planned capital investment and staff engagement programme for 2010 and 2011.

Are you ready for the CRC?

We have done substantial planning work and we are feeling comfortable about it – apart from the subsidiaries issue (see above).

Will it help or hinder your energy management activity?

It will hinder us based on requirement to manage all subsidiaries (again, see above).

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