Mandatory UK Carbon Reporting & CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme

A Coordinated Approach or Confusion 

The UK government have closed the Public Consultation period to simplify the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (formally known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment) and recently opened the consultation period for Mandatory Carbon Reporting for the top 1,000 or so FTSE quoted companies.  At FirstCarbon Solutions, we are watching the outcomes closely.

The ambition for both schemes is driven out of the absolute desire of Carbon Emission Reduction and to halt the human effect on climate change.  The CRC Scheme is known to us all as a tax raising measure, the UK Mandatory Carbon Reporting Scheme is compulsory for companies to include emissions data for their entire organisation in their annual reports.  In either case, companies in the UK need to try to figure out how and if to engage energy management consultants or environmental sustainability management firms to help them through this.

Both schemes were lauded by the international community as firsts and many nations watched “Team Great Britain” win Gold in driving a necessary regulation.  However, the CRC Scheme became quickly unravelled as an innovative way of driving high energy use companies to reduce their energy when the impact of the global crunch began to be felt taxes were raised as a result.  Will the same fate befall the UK Mandatory Carbon Reporting Scheme to allow the cynics five minutes of critical glory?

Who knows…

The two schemes are different and some companies will be required to report one set of data to the Mandatory Carbon Reporting Scheme and a different or more defined set of data to another scheme.  Is this doubling the workload?  The Climate Disclosure Standards Board think not. They believe that an overlay of CRC data can be used as a part of the Mandatory Carbon Reporting requirement.

So, is this a Co-ordinated Approach or Confusion?  The jury remains out here and we wait to hear from Government in the autumn regarding the consultation from both schemes.  I hope any cynicism is put to rest but to add to the confusion there are two Government departments and two schemes:  Mandatory Carbon Reporting (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs or DEFRA) & CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (Department of Energy and Climate Change DECC).  Maybe this is the time for “Joined-up Government”!

Did you enjoy this post? The author of this article is Charles Hansard. Learn more about him here.