The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) - how will it affect you?

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) is a groundbreaking, legally binding, emissions trading scheme. The CRC directly affects around 5,000 UK organisations in the public and private sectors and it came into force in April 2010.

If your organisation is captured by the CRC, you are required to monitor your carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from direct energy use and electricity consumption on an annual basis. You will have to buy an emissions allowance for each tonne of CO₂ you emit and surrender these to the Government. You will be able to buy these allowances from the Government, or on a secondary market.

The CRC will create a new carbon market worth around £600 million per year by putting a price on CO₂ emissions from energy use. This price will start at £12 per tonne, but is likely to rise in later years as emissions caps take hold. The revenues the Government receives from the sale of emissions allowances will be returned to the CRC scheme participants in relation to their position in a league table.

If you are included in the CRC and reduce your emissions you can profit. If you are included in the CRC and your emissions increase, you will lose out.

Also, each year, the Government will publish the CRC league table - publicly demonstrating how you are performing relative to other CRC scheme participants. This will have implications for your organisation's reputation.

AEA was the principal technical adviser to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) for the CRC scheme and continues to work with the Environment Agency during the implementation phase.

Therefore, we are uniquely positioned to help you in what is going to be a very strategic, competitive, potentially costly and very visible piece of legislation.

In particular, AEA can:

• Guide you on how the CRC scheme will impact your organisation.
• Help you develop a winning CRC strategy to ensure compliance.
• Make sure you have systems in place to correctly gather and manage data and forecast emissions.
• Help you take a proactive approach to the opportunities the CRC presents by identifying substantial cost savings and aid a high score on the CRC's league table.

For further information on how AEA can help your organisation develop a winning CRC strategy, please contact our CRC team at crc@aeat.co.uk

>> Download our CRC Emerging Issues papers