DEFRA Carbon Plans are Groundbreaking



Posted: Monday, January 11, 2010

by
Earth Phone

It seems that the British, like the rest of us, like their acronyms. This seems to be especially true when it comes to the thorny problem of climate change. DECC absorbed DEFRA and BERR to put forward a more consolidated front, but however you look at that, the British are certainly blazing a trail within this arena and have passed what is effectively the first legally binding legislation with teeth.

The DEFRA carbon approach resulted in the Carbon Reduction Commitment, a child of the Climate Change Act of 2008. The British certainly moved quickly on this to meet what are termed carbon budgets for the first years of the program. The CRC is an innovative climate change and energy saving program which has been designed to create a quantum shift away from traditional thinking.

The fast consolidation by the British government to push DEFRA carbon approach has impressed observers all over the world. Should their program be successful, it is likely to be copied in many different parts of the world.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment is designed to place a financial incentive on carbon emission reduction by, for the first time, establishing carbon as a commodity and fixing a price per ton. The government is at pains to point out that the scheme should benefit those who are forced to participate and not be seen as yet another administrative burden.

As the UK government is set to emphasize, benefits to participants in the DEFRA carbon scheme may amount to around $1 billion by the year 2020. Revenues which will come from the scheme are neutral to the exchequer which is the UK's version of our Treasury Department. Revenues will be recycled to participants in this way.

While the government is ready to encourage and provide financial incentives, in a sense at least, it is not afraid to wield a stick in addition to dangling the carrot. The only risk that DEFRA carbon scheme participants might face in the event of under-performance will be lowering its own reputation. A league table will be published for all to see and judge.

Around 20,000 organizations will be expected to participate in the CRC in one form or another, but only about 5,000 will be required to actively participate by documenting and measuring their carbon emission and by purchasing allowances from the government accordingly.

The UK has taken the lead in the fight against global warming and climate change by introducing sweeping legislation which is designed to commence in April of 2010. The goal is to achieve carbon equivalent emissions reduction to at least 4MTCO2 every year in 10 years. Compared to a 1990 baseline, this is a reduction of about 26% of greenhouse gas emissions, yet represents only the start of a push to huge reductions by the year 2050.

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Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme Introduction - The UK government has taken the first initiative with the introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment legislation which will force an estimated 5,000 companies, directly affected by the law, to take part in a "cap and trade" scheme and to produce carbon emissions reports. Learn about Sustainability Resource Planning (SRP) software from Verisae at http://www.verisae.com/articles
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