» What is the CRC?
The Carbon Reduction Commitment (which was recently renamed the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme) is a mandatory carbon emissions trading scheme to cover all organisations using more than 6,000MWh per year of electricity (equivalent to an annual electricity bill of about £500,000). The Carbon Reduction Commitment will cover both public and private sector organisations. At present, the carbon reduction scheme is expected to affect approximately 5,000 organisations in the UK. In doing so, it is anticipated that the scheme will affect 25% of total business sector emissions within the UK.
All energy other than transport fuels will be covered, such as: gas, electricity and oil.
The sectors targeted by the Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme generate over 10% of UK Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions, around 55 MtCO2. The Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme aims to reduce carbon emissions from these organisations by at least 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, by 2020.
» How it works
Each year, the CRC will require participating organisations to purchase and submit sufficient allowances to meet their annual emissions covered by the scheme. The scheme will start with a reporting year from April 2010, with the first sales of allowances held in April 2011. During the introductory phase, all carbon emission allowances will be sold at a fixed price of £12 per tonne of carbon dioxide. From April 2013, allowances will be auctioned by the government, with fewer available each year.
Revenues from the sale of allowances will be recycled back to organisations within the scheme. Each organisation will be repaid in proportion to their historic emissions with a bonus or penalty depending on the extent to which they have reduced their emissions compared with other organisations within the scheme.
» How can Calor help?
LPG is itself the lowest carbon fossil fuel in non mains gas areas, with lower emissions than both oil and electricity.
When combined with low carbon or renewable technologies, LPG offers a real opportunity to help businesses tackle their CRC obligations, especially when old and inefficient oil, electric or LPG heating systems are replaced.
More information is available at: www.carbonreductioncommitment.info
