Proposed changes to UK's CRC could dilute the effect of the scheme | 30th Jun 2011
Following today's announcement by the Government of the final details of changes to the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), Chris Stubbs, our Technical Director, comments:
"If these changes are adopted as they read at the moment, a substantial amount of emissions are likely to fall out of the scheme. This would significantly dilute CRC's effectiveness and move it away from what it was set up to achieve.
"Exempting EU ETS sites from CRC will mean that only emissions from direct combustion will be regulated at these sites, through their current EU ETS participation. Their electricity emissions are not part of their EU ETS footprint and will be uncontrolled once again. Similarly, the potential changes to group structure rules could allow private equity and investment funds to fall out of the scheme, which would again enable significant emissions to evade CRC and thus reduce its effectiveness as an emissions control mechanism."
"The changes outlined today will do little to assure businesses in the short-term. Instead, they will make the future of the scheme even more uncertain, preventing businesses from making confident decisions. The government should be giving companies the assurance they need to invest in energy efficiency by tabling firm commitments on what the detail will look like."
To read the press release issued by DECC today, visit: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn11_058/pn11_058.aspx
For further information, please contact Chris Stubbs on + 44 (0)16 1886 2446 or email him at chris.stubbs@wspgroup.com.
