Macro

Does your business need to make 
a carbon reduction commitment?

Since April 1st 2010, larger energy-using UK businesses have had to comply with the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, the UK's first mandatory carbon trading scheme. Organisations using more than 6,000 MWh/year of half-hourly metered electricity, (roughly equivalent to £500,000 in electricity costs), must comply with a variety of stringent new requirements. Macro can help your business to meet these requirements and our dedicated Sustainability and Carbon Management Team will ensure your business's bottom line and reputation are protected as business moves into the low-carbon future.

Bigger users, bigger liabilities?
The scheme aims to encourage organisations to reduce their fixed source energy consumption by having to purchase allowances from the Government, based upon their levels of emissions.

Under the terms of the legislation "organisation" means includes every corporate element for which you may be a parent. This may therefore capture a whole range of organisations whose individual subsidiaries, branches or divisions may not singularly be large enough to hit the trigger levels on their own, but who viewed cumulatively fall within this definition.

Money saved, money made
Rewards are financial and reputational. All participating organisations will feature on a UK league table which will be published annually. Better performing organisations will recieve a greater share of the income generated by the scheme - a clear intention being to reward better environmental performance and drive down excessive power usage.

Do you qualify?
The scheme is mandatory, if they meet the criteria, organisations must give due consideration to how they need to respond to the requirement. Organisations may be fined on a per meter basis if they fail to register to take part in the scheme.

The registration period occurs during the middle two quarters of 2010; however the data which registration is based upon will be for 2008.

Click on the diagram, right, to identify if you need to join the scheme.

The costs of not complying
There are a number of key impacts of not adequately managing your organisation's commitment to the Carbon Reduction commitment:

• You may face substantial financial fines and punitive measures if you fail or incorrectly report
• Published league tables will clearly demonstrate your organisation's commitment or lack of commitment to corporate social responsibility and will be a very visible indicator to customers and stakeholders alike
• You will be spending more on energy and utilities than you need to be if you fail to reduce your energy spend significantly in the first year April 2010 to April 2011and thereafter
• The impact and levees are predicted to become more onerous over time as the CRC moves into the uncapped trading phase

How Macro can help
Establishing your CRC position is a time-consuming and resource-hungry data analysis exercise, requiring skills companies do not often readily have in-house. Only 4 months remain of the ‘Registration Period', from April through to September 2010. During this period your organisation must register or complete an information disclosure stating you do not qualify, inaction is not an option.

If you believe your organisation qualifies you should call us today. Macro has a dedicated Sustainability and Carbon Management team who can provide an end to end CRC service or assist you with adhoc elements vital to CRC compliance. We can evaluate your situation and help you make the necessary steps to meeting the scheme's requirements.

Beyond compliance, greater efficiencies
It's also important to grasp that this isn't a one-time activity. Equally important is the need to identify and target energy efficiency measures that can deliver the optimum savings in the footprint year that commenced April 2010 and ends March 2011. This year's savings will be pivotal in where your organisation is positioned in the league table and consequently whether you will be finacially penalized or rewarded. Mace's sustainability team has experienced and highly qualified auditors, who can quickly establish efficiency opportunities that meet your return on investment and funding criteria.

Contact our team
Andrew Smart
andrew.smart@macemacro.com
020 7068 6116 

Additional resources
CRC Energy Efficiency explained:
Joan Ruddock, Former Under-Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, explains the CRC scheme's aims and objectives.