Exclusive: Survey shows ignorance of CRC among top 5000 UK firms

More than half of senior executives at the top 5000 UK companies are unaware of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC). And an even greater proportion doesn’t know if their firm will be affected by the legislation, according to a report to be published this week.

Unless there is a last-minute rush to register, the high level of ignorance means many firms will miss the registration deadline on 30 September.

In June, figures from the Environment Agency showed that less than 10 per cent of eligible organisations had registered.

The survey was carried out by green IT consultancy Externus, looking to drum up business for its services.

“It seems we have a lot of education to do before companies even know why they should be talking to us,” Externus managing director Murray Sherwood told Businessgreen.com. “I’m surprised given that the target audience is the very people the CRC will likely affect.”

Externus surveyed over 100 C-level and CSR executives in the top 5000 UK firms. Asked if they were aware of the CRC, 53 per cent of respondents said no. Asked if they knew whether the legislation will affect their organisation, 70 per cent said they didn’t know. So even though some respondents knew of the CRC’s existence, they weren’t sure whether it applied to their business or not.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRCEES) is a mandatory carbon cap-and-trade scheme targeting energy-intensive organisations not covered by the EU emissions trading scheme, such as local authorities, banks, supermarkets and hospitals.

Under the legislation, which comes into effect in April 2010, an estimated 20,000 large public and private sector organisations that use half-hourly electricity meters will have to report to the government.

Of these, around 5,000 organisations with annual electricity bills of over £500,000 will have to report on their energy use, purchase carbon credits to cover their calculated carbon emissions, and comply with targets to reduce their carbon footprint.

Seventy per cent of respondents to Externus' survey claimed to have a green strategy of some flavour – anything from recycling paper to full carbon disclosure and reduction. Asked which activities were responsible for the majority of emissions in their organisation, 43 per cent identified buildings, 27 per cent transport and 21 per cent IT.

“For an office-based organisation with no manufacturing facility or logistics fleet, we estimate IT accounts for half of an organisation’s emissions,” said Sherwood.

Externus' calculation includes an estimate of the extra cooling required outside the data centre for local servers and the desktop estate.

“IT is notoriously inefficient in its use of power,” said Murray. “But small changes can make a big difference.”

Externus’ argument is that cutting IT power consumption is an easy way to save money. Unsurprisingly, 88 per cent of respondents to the survey said they would be more interested in environmental action if they thought they could reduce costs. Presumably the other 12 per cent didn’t want any free money.