Gearing up for the Carbon Reduction Commitment

Consultancies including Enviros, AEA and MWH explain in latest issue of Environment Analyst Market Briefing how the Carbon Reduction Commitment will be an important new market in compliance and a chance for UK consultancies to grow their carbon management services overseas

From next year, some 20,000 public and private organisations across the UK, from local authorities, schools and universities to retailers and hotel chains, must provide the Government with data on their CO₂ emissions. Of these the biggest emitters, some 5,000 organisations, will then go on to participate in an emissions trading scheme and be required to ensure they do not exceed an annually shrinking cap on their emissions set by the Government.

The scheme marks the first time that the Government has introduced mandatory emission cuts on organisations that are not energy-intensive manufacturers. Any company that already participates in the EU emissions trading scheme or a UK climate change agreement is automatically exempt from the CRC.

It also represents a major business opportunity for environmental and carbon consultants, particularly those that have already been advising clients on carbon footprinting and accounting. The Government believes that it will save participants around £1 billion in energy bills by 2020. There will also be a reputational incentive, with participants ranked according to their performance in a published league table.

The first compliance year starts in April 2010, six months later than planned. The postponement caused a delay in the pipeline of private sector contracts for some consultancies, such as AEA (Environment Analyst, 27-Feb-09).

A few organisations are already developing long-term carbon reduction strategies but most have paid their energy consumption little attention up to now. “There is an enormous lack of awareness,” says AEA's marketing and sales director, Gill Hall.

MWH, a consultancy well known for its work in the water sector, is “not in the market to compete with carbon accounting firms but to help add value to the long-term carbon management process”, says Tania Flasck, MWH's head of sustainability in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Meanwhile, Caroline Doble, head of Enviros's CRC team, says the scheme sends a wider signal to the economy as a whole that carbon reporting is important to the Government and will be for some time.

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• Environment Analyst Market Briefing April/May issue