CRC in the balance?
Government cuts will impact those organisations that have signed up to CRC, says the British Standards Institute.
The UK coalition government’s spending review announced on 21st October largely protects environmental investment but significant changes to the CRC scheme will impact those organisations that have already signed up.
Specifically, scheme contributions are to be put towards reducing the UK’s public finances - instead of being recycled to scheme participants as originally planned.
In addition the first allowance sales for 2011-12 emissions are now planned for 2012 rather than 2011.
BSI is urging UK businesses that have obligations under the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme to focus on the potential for savings of around 30% in their energy use; significant savings for any business in the current financial climate. Despite changes to the scheme, which alter the primary incentives, taking a systematic approach to energy reduction can help businesses achieve longer term benefits.
Key to achieving these savings is the accurate measurement and verification of energy usage. The BSI Kitemark scheme for Energy Reduction Verification (ERV) has been designed specifically with CRC requirements in mind so that only greenhouse gas emissions from energy usage are taken into account. As such it offers one of the simplest Early Action Metrics available.
The Kitemark ERV scheme is based on the European Standard BS EN 16001, which has the unique advantage of using a management systems based approach to support the human and organizational cultural aspects of energy efficiency initiatives to drive down energy use, and therefore costs, systematically year on year.
Rob Wallis, BSI Managing Director, EMEA Region comments: “These changes do not materially diminish the scope for substantial financial gain and energy management saves businesses a significant amount of money. It remains firmly in the interest of UK plc to engage fully with the CRC scheme on a financial as well as environmental level, especially in what we are told will be more challenging times.
"We have noticed a considerable uptake of the Kitemark scheme from businesses keen to meet the scheme requirements in the simple and credible manner.”
