What have we got to look forward to when we get back? CRC is still with us for the foreseeable future. There were suggestions that it would be abolished in the Autumn, or replaced with something simpler, but will the Chancellor give up the £750m it yielded this year?
Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting (GHG) has had wide press coverage. It’s been hailed as an example of the UK being a world leader in carbon management. How can this be?
- It will apply to UK-registered companies quoted on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, European exchanges, NYSE or NASDAQ. That’s about 1,800 companies, whereas CRC covers 2,700.
- The proposals are to monitor the six Kyoto gases. There are constant calls for CRC to be simplified, and that scheme only monitors the one gas – CO2. They are even talking about including Scope 3 emissions (created by your product in the hands of your customer.)
- There are no plans to impose penalties or charges for emissions.
- There is no standard methodology required for reporting.
- The whole consultation is very vague (only 6 pages.)
Greenwash, anyone? Oh, I forgot, it’s the silly season.
Hopefully there’ll be some sense by the time the consultation closes on 17th October, but aren’t we leaving things a bit late? If the government is truly going to reduce the nation’s emissions by 80% by 2050 or even 30% by 2020, is a vague scheme which will allow people to report in any way they like really going to make a difference?
This certainly looks less and less like the greenest government ever. Was I really naïve enough to believe the hype?
In September, our new Sustainability Works website launches, based on my new keynote speech and my book of the same title.
You can keep ahead of the game because the book is AVAILABLE NOW on Kindle.
