Commenting on today’s Ministerial announcement on the simplification of the CRC, EIC’s Exec Chair, Adrian Wilkes, representing approximately 80 companies in EIC’s Carbon Management Working Group, said:
“We are delighted that the Minister has today made a firm commitment to retain the CRC. This is very welcome news as it drives significant energy savings across British industry whilst stimulating the environmental technology and services industry – creating jobs, and being an important step in the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy.
“The Minister, Greg Barker, is quite right to highlight that the ‘tailored combination of reputational, financial and standardised energy measurement and monitoring drivers’ remain the most effective way to tackle the barriers to the uptake of energy efficiency.
“We further welcome the Government’s announcement, following constructive discussion with our industry, to simplify the Scheme. Well-designed simplification will help encourage buy-in to the Scheme, but EIC, whilst supporting smarter regulation will need to be convinced that this is not a cover for deregulation.
“So we will continue to hold the Government to account on this issue, and ensure that the rhetoric of simplification is reflected in reality. It is worrying that the Government won’t be finalising their simplification plans until 2012 at the earliest as this will cause significant business uncertainty, and thereby undermine investment in energy efficiency.”
Sunil Shah, Chair of the EIC’s Carbon Management Working Group, and Partner at independent national planning consultancy DPP, who provide core planning advice to clients across all development sectors with specialisms in sustainability, heritage, urban design and master-planning, said:
“This is a very welcome announcement. Simplification of the CRC will help businesses to deliver their energy efficiency commitments, and save money on their bills in the process.
“However, I remain acutely concerned that the Government are unwilling to recycle monies raised from the Scheme back into the Green Investment Bank or similar. This would provide the Scheme with a level of environmental credibility that is currently lacking, as funds are instead diverted into a taxation black hole. Whilst this announcement is, on the whole, a positive one, it is also a missed opportunity to direct funds to the Government’s flagship environmental institution – creating green jobs, and boosting the green economy.”
The Minister stated today that there is evidence that the 5,000 large organisations participating in the Scheme's first year had responded to the CRC's reporting requirements by taking steps to improve their energy efficiency.
EIC originally lobbied hard for the CRC’s introduction and has recently been actively engaged in dialogue with the Government as part of the simplification process. A copy of the response to the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s discussion papers on simplification, published earlier this year, is attached by way of background.