|
|
Decc refines and renames Carbon Reduction CommitmentBusinesses falling under the Carbon Reduction Commitment will be spared the costs of buying emissions allocations in the first year of the scheme, the Department of Energy and Climate Change announced today. The department also gave the scheme a new name and added incentives for on-site generation and early action. The Carbon Reduction Commitment - now to be known as the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme - will eventually require companies to buy the carbon allowances they need each year, returning the cash with penalties or bonuses depending on whether they have cut emissions. The scheme will begin in April 2010. The revised scheme will not require companies to bid for credits in the first year, only to report emissions. In addition, companies that have taken early action or that have on-site, low-carbon power energy generation will receive greater benefits. The scheme also aims to add flexibility by allowing major subsidiaries to be considered separately from their parent company. Energy and climate change minister Joan Ruddock said: "Large organisations have huge potential to achieve cost-effective energy efficiency savings. There are clear benefits from positive, immediate action to tackle climate change. Investment that takes place in the next few decades will have a profound effect on the climate in the second half of this century and in the next." However, Danny Stevens, policy director of environmental trade association EIC, warned that the scheme was not ambitious enough. He said: "Our Members regularly report that opportunities to reduce energy demand are particularly high in the large non-energy intensive organisations covered by the Carbon Reduction Commitment, we do not believe, therefore, that a 7.6 per cent reduction from the scheme is an insufficient contribution to meeting the Government's target to reduce emissions by at least 32 per cent by 2020. "EIC is, therefore, calling on the Government to urgently increase the ambition of the scheme to ensure that it makes a full contribution to meeting the UK's climate change targets. This must include a reduction of the coverage threshold so that more organisations can benefit from the energy efficiency improvements the scheme will drive. A more ambitious scheme with a lower coverage threshold is cost effective, particularly following the recent increase in the Shadow Price of Carbon." The scheme applies to organisations whose annual half hourly metered electricity use is at least 6,000 MWh, but is lower than the energy-intensive industries covered by the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. These companies typically spend £0.5 million a year on electricity. The Environment Agency will publish the qualification and registration guidance for potential participants by November. Source: Utility Week © Faversham House Group Ltd 2009. News articles may be copied or forwarded
for individual use only. No other reproduction or distribution is permitted without prior written consent.
|
Highlighted Jobs |
|
|