Carbon Trust UK Company Profile
Provisions of the Act includes a commitment of the UK to cut at least 80 percent in greenhouse emissions by 2050, 30 percent of which is targeted in year 2020. The Act also includes a provision for carbon budgeting system which caps emissions over five-year periods as indicated in the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan (Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2009). The creation of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is also stated in this law. The CCC is an independent body with technical experts which advices the government on the level of carbon budget and where cost-effective savings could be made. The government in response must be able to respond to the annual reports of the CCC to ensure transparency and accountability. The CCC also advices on various sectors in the country on the projected emissions of for example, the aviation and shipping industry to be taken into account in the carbon budgets of UK. The Act is a domestic action of UK to climate change, thus prompting the need for the government to mediate between budgeting carbon emissions domestically and internationally.
This has been institutionalized when the EU Emissions Trading System was formed. The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme was also created from this Act following the provision on creating schemes which measures biofuel levels, incentives for household reduction of wastes, and others (Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2009). The government is also responsible for addressing these issues to pubic bodies and informs them on risk-assessments they have made to address the risks of climate change. This Act also enables the government to monitor and give a set of guidance to companies on their greenhouse gas emissions levels, requiring them to report to the government and abide by the standards on greenhouse emissions. Publication is also crucial in the Act to inform various stakeholders of their roles and responsibility in fulfilling the duties stated by both the government and the society in response to climate change (Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2009).
The Carbon Trust
Carbon budgets are the allocation of UK in their level of greenhouse gas emission and contribution to the global greenhouse gas emissions. Britain, by institutionalizing Climate Change Act in 2008 aimed to reduce their emission by at least 80 percent by 2050. To achieve such ambitious targets, the Carbon Trust Company was formed to accelerate the transition towards a UK with a low carbon economy.
As a not-for-profit company, Carbon Trust provides technical support to various private and public stakeholders to cut carbon emissions, save energy, and to commercialize low carbon technologies as means to reach for low carbon economy. The company provides a support system which enforces the goals of a low carbon UK economy, the development of low carbon businesses, increase energy security, and other relevant roles in effort to respond to climate change. Other than specialist advice, the company provides financial plan to different organizations and sets the standards for carbon reduction.
The Carbon Trust Company takes a practical approach in reducing carbon emissions. By aiming to deliver a long-term impact, the company advices on how to open markets for low carbon technologies, leads in collaborations to commercialize these technologies, and investing on starting low carbon companies. The company relates that through these measures, the UK can generally save over 20 million tones of carbon a year by 2050.
The current Chief Executive is Tom Delay, who came to the trust after a career with energy company Shell and management consultancies McKinsey and A.T. Kearney. The current Chairman is Sir Ian McAllister, who was also Chairman of Network Rail
Clients
Almost 75 percent of FTSE 100 companies were advised by the group, and thousands of small and medium sized business over 2,500 public sector bodies had approached the company for strategies towards a low carbon economy. The company boasts of helping their customers save around 23 metric tones of CO2 emissions which saved the companies 1.4 billionof direct cost savings. Third party investments amounting to 1 billion had gained into the development and deployment of low carbon technologies, markets, and product services. They have supported development of 250 new low carbon technology projects and companies, certified carbon footprints of over 5,000 products, and 200 companies to the Carbon Trust Standard.
The company also takes on the role in the legislative areas by providing valuable insights and informed policy directions and decisions which improved the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme of large organizations, improved support for the technologies under the revised Renewable Obligations, and the understanding on the competitiveness impacts of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Aside from various projects they have initiated to accelerate the deployment of low carbon energy technologies, the Carbon Trust defined a new approach for UK to capture economic opportunities which addresses the goal of reducing carbon emissions.
Services
Aside from providing technical advice, the company is also committed to set the standard in lowering carbon emissions. They deliver their services in various ways such as through basic telephone support, carbon surveys, carbon footprinting, carbon saving workshops, private sector carbon management, public sector carbon management, and building design advice and schemes. The holistic and practical approach of the company also support business and public sector organization in the transition towards low carbon economy by reducing their energy bills and carbon emissions, specifically through their strategies such as interest-free loans on low carbon technologies, and enhanced capital allowances (Cave, 2009).
The public sector also can finance investment on energy efficient technologies, through the Salix Finance, which provides them with a scheme to install a range of energy efficient measures. Customer can also measure their carbon emissions and take part in reducing carbon emission.
Schemes
The Carbon Trust Standard is a vital tool in the effort of the company to reach its goals aligned with reducing carbon emission. The Carbon Trust Standard certifies that an organization has made genuine reductions to its carbon footprint. It also entails the commitment of the organization to make further reduction year after year. Another scheme which is the Carbon Reduction Label was developed by the company to help in understanding the concept of carbon footprint in various products, services, and technologies used.
Contribution on Policy Directions
In gearing towards a low carbon economy, Carbon Trust works with experts to outline the current trends and policy frameworks to shape the low carbon growth in the UK. Industries also take part in this initiative to ensure that future low carbon emitting technologies are welcomed in a profitable and competitive market, and essentially will create significant carbon economic returns for UK (Cave, 2009). The company contributes ideas, presents issues and opportunities with regards to climate change legislation. The company helps in creating low carbon enterprises, and provides technology accelerators to focus on addressing the barriers to technology development and deployment (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009). Grant support to science as well as the enterprise makes the transition towards a low carbon economy profitable for the customers, and not seen as a means to hamper the companies development. There is also the business incubator of the company to provide business support and solutions for new companies to thrive. They also provide applied research grant scheme to produce viable information, build on gaps in UK research capabilities, and invest on technologies in the effort to response to climate change.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment