Opinion
Still asking questions about carbon reduction strategy?
Time is fast running out for UK businesses to get their Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme in order. Dave Lewis offers this advice for those grappling with its complexities.
El tiempo se acaba para que las empresas del Reino Unido pongan al día su Plan de Eficiencia Energética y Compromiso de Reducción de las Emisiones de CO2
(Carbon Reduction
Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme). Dave Lewis ofrece los siguientes consejos para aquellos que tengan que lidiar con sus complejidades.
Britischen Unternehmen bleibt nicht mehr viel Zeit, ihre Energieeffizienzpläne zur CO2
-Reduzierung aufzustellen.
Dave Lewis bietet jenen seinen Rat an, die an der Komplexität dieses Unterfangens verzweifeln.
I
do not expect this will be the first article you will have read on the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) and it probably will not be the last, but if you still have questions on the CRC, it could turn out to be the most important. Te chances are, if you are still asking questions about the scheme, it means you are continuing to grapple with the demands it will place on your business and how you are going to manage them. It is understandable. To all but the most committed energy manager, the CRC can appear confusing, bureaucratic and unwieldy, leaving many unsure about how to best to manage it so as not to fall foul of the scheme’s financial and reputational penalties. What will perhaps come as
reassuring news is that you are certainly not alone. In regular seminars I give on
the CRC, many are still asking fairly rudimentary questions about participation and the seventh edition of our annual study into businesses’ opinion on energy use and carbon emissions, the npower Business Energy Index (nBEI7), also reveals large numbers are still in the dark about the scheme. In the latest index, 44 per cent of participants
believe the level of guidance on the CRC has not been adequate, while 49 per cent said they do not understand what’s required of them to buy carbon allowances, and 44 per cent are also unclear on forecasting their CO2
Fig. 1. Questions: To all but the most committed energy manager, CRC can appear confusing, bureaucratic and unwieldy, leaving many unsure about how to best to manage.
the plan to cut carbon by 34 per cent by 2020. Moreover, the index suggests that the commercial benefits of a smaller carbon footprint are falling out of favour with businesses. Only a quarter now believe there is some
emissions, two
of the schemes’ principal actions. Against the backdrop of the recession, the nBEI also reveals that only 21 per cent of respondents believe the UK’s 2050 target to reduce emissions by 80 per cent is realistic. And less than half (42 per cent) feel the same about
6
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commercial advantage from lower emissions, down from 31 per cent who thought this in our 2009 research. It is this feedback that is perhaps most concerning of all as it points to situation in which, conceivably, energy efficiency and carbon reduction programmes will be relegated on the corporate priority list. Tis is now a dangerous strategy for all those
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