Environment Agency opens CRC registration scheme

The Environment Agency has today (1st April) opened the registration scheme for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, with all participating organisations required to register for the scheme by 30th September this year.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme the legal commitment for large non-energy intensive organisations to closely monitor and report their emissions from energy use in preparation for the first time. The agency estimates that more than 20,000 organisations in the UK will have to register with the Environment Agency by the end of September this year.

Around 5,000 of these organisations – those that used at least 6,000 Megawatt hours (MWh) of half hourly metered electricity in 2008 – will have to report their emissions and, from 2011, buy allowances for every tonne of CO2 they emit.  During the introductory phase in 2011 and 2012, allowances will be sold at a fixed price of £12 per tonne of CO2.

Analysis for the Environment Agency suggests that the scheme could reduce CO2 emissions by up to 11.6 million tonnes per year by 2020 - the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road. It is also expected to save organisations money through reduced energy bills – benefiting the economy by at least £1billion by 2020.

All the money raised from allowance sales will be recycled back to participants according to their energy performance.  The best performers will get more money back than they paid, while poor performers will get less.  

From 2013 a cap and trade system will be introduced.  This will limit the total amount of carbon dioxide these organisations can emit by capping the total number of allowances available and selling them at auction. A further 15,000 organisations that use less than 6,000MWh, but still have at least one half hourly electricity meter, will be obliged to register and declare their electricity use

The Environment Agency has also announced that it will create league tables of organisations ranked by their reductions in energy use and improvements in energy efficiency. This will include private sector business and alongside public sector organisations such as NHS trusts, local authorities and government departments.

For further information on whether and how to register, please click here.