The scheme is the UK’s mandatory climate change and energy saving initiative. It is central to the UK’s strategy for improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008.
Around 5,000 organizations are expected to qualify for the scheme this year and all must comply legally with the scheme or face financial and other penalties.
However, the survey of senior managers responsible for energy management at many of the UK’s biggest energy users highlights a degree of ignorance and confusion about the scheme.
If firms do not register by the deadline of September 30 they face an immediate fine of GBP5,000 and an additional daily fine of GBP500. A single organization that misses the deadline by a month will face a GBP20,000 fine. If 53% of the 5,000 organizations affected by the scheme miss the deadline by a month, they will collectively accumulate a first month fine of more than GBP50m.
Other findings from the survey show that a third of those surveyed who’s organization almost certainly qualifies for the scheme did not know what their annual energy usage was, despite this being the basic metric for qualifying for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.
Nearly 45% of those who know that they qualify for the scheme do not know when they are supposed to register. The survey highlighted that more than a quarter of the UK’s largest energy users who qualify for the scheme do not have a carbon footprint reduction strategy in place.
Meanwhile, almost every organization admitted they could do more to reduce their carbon footprint. Despite this, almost half of those qualifying for the scheme either have no plans, or are waiting to be told what to do, to reduce their carbon footprint.
The survey was carried out by research company Vanson Bourne. The survey revealed some of the most common strategies being used by large organizations to reduce their energy usage.
The most popular steps were also the simplest and ranged from turning off lights and IT equipment to opening windows rather than using fans or air-conditioning. The least common approach listed was solar control window film that can reject solar energy from the sun and help keep a building cool, reducing the need for air-conditioning.
Ian Penfold, solar control window film expert of Solar Gard, said: “Such a lax approach by UK organizations to the climate change issue illustrates the need for enforced legislation. But there’s clearly been too much hot air around the CRC, and not enough cool action.
“Organizations across the UK, big and small, should take ownership for cutting their carbon footprint. The UK may have taken the lead in Europe to deliver climate change legislation, but we face huge embarrassment if, collectively, we fall at the first hurdle.”
