- Carbon Reduction Commitment
- The Environment Agency is holding a series of free half-day seminars after Easter to explain how the Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme will affect bigger businesses and public sector bodies.
- Anyone supplied by an electricity meter settled on the half-hourly market will be required to register with the Environment Agency in the six months from 1 April 2010.
- Those organisations using at least 6,000 MWh per year settled on the half-hourly market, representing an annual electricity bill of around £1 million, will have to participate in a mandatory ‘cap and trade’ scheme. Each year this will require them to monitor and report their energy use and surrender sufficient allowances to cover their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
- The cost of purchasing allowances will be recycled back to participants with a bonus/penalty element. This will be based upon published league tables showing relative performance.
- Responsibilities under CRC will fall on the highest parent organisation or holding company rather than individual business units or regional operations.
- Most smaller businesses will not use enough electricity to be eligible for CRC, while parts of organisations covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and Climate Change Agreements will be exempt.
- All organisations on half-hourly meters, whether commercial or in the public sector, will be sent a letter to their billing address this summer, notifying them of the need to register.
- Although it will be a criminal offence to refuse to comply with the registration process, CRC is designed to be ‘revenue neutral’. Many participants will achieve savings through the very effort of reducing CO2 emissions, outweighing the administrative costs and any investment needed in developing carbon trading functions and other new skills.
- Further information on CRC and the events are available here http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/news/104746.aspx
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