PLC Environment reports:
On 1 April 2010, the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) came into force. Public sector organisations will be required to participate in the CRC if they are either:
- Mandated participants; or
- Organisations that meet the qualification criteria. That is, organisations having a settled half hourly meter and qualifying electricity supplies of over 6,000 MWh during 2008 (which is the Qualification Year for the Introductory Phase of the scheme).
Those public sector organisations that are required to participate need to be fully prepared as the scheme will require them to buy carbon allowances, as well as require them to put in place systems to collate data about their energy use and CO2 emissions, and report on this annually (which can be a complex and time-consuming task for any organisation, especially those that have little or no experience of the “carbon market” ).
In this post we highlight the materials that PLC has developed to assist public authorities to rise to this new challenge.
PLC has produced a CRC Survival Kit to help those who are affected by the CRC through the registration process and to ensure that they can comply with the scheme’s requirements.
This week we have published two documents specifically aimed at the public sector:
- Practice note, CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme: impact on public sector organisations: this note explains how public sector organisations should go about defining their organisation structure for the purposes of the CRC.
- Checklist, CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme: Public sector: How to determine what your organisation structure is and whether you have to participate in the CRC.
We have also produced a guide to the CRC in conjunction with the Carbon Trust Standard:
- CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC): The essential guide for the Board and their lawyers. The guide is free, simple to understand and is available as a PDF. It brings all organisations and their lawyers up to speed on how the CRC will affect them, in an easily digestible form. You may wish to send a copy to officers and members at your authority that need to be made aware of the new regime.
The PLC Environment team welcomes your feedback on the CRC Survival Kit and its materials on the impact of the CRC on the public sector. If you have any queries on our materials or about the CRC generally please do not hesitate to contact us.