View the original article by clicking here. According to PwC Media Centre, the first annual league tables for the UK Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme show an estimated £734m cost for emissions from the UK's largest business energy users. The Public Sector fared better in the "league table" which is the output of this mandatory scheme introduced by Government aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions in large organisations across the public and private sectors.
Henry Le Fleming, sustainability and climate change, PwC said: "League tables grab the headlines, from a reputational point of view, but the devil is in the detail. The ranking is based entirely on the Early Action Metric, which is not a measure of greenhouse gas emissions. This means this year's results overlook wider emissions reduction and climate change related activities. Some companies at the bottom of the table may have programmes in place which are already making progress in reducing emissions in their wider business." "The single most important point is whether companies are actually doing enough to help the UK meet its 2020 target to reduce carbon emissions. For that you need to look at broader metrics than the CRC league table position. The problem for poor performers will be trying to explain these complexities to key stakeholders." The Early Action Metric uses a 50-50 split of the percentage of relevant source emissions (predominantly electric and gas meters) in a certified carbon management system, such as the Carbon Trust Carbon Management system; and the percentage of 2010/11 emissions from non half hourly meters where approved Automatic Metering Reading (AMR) devices have been deployed. Government announced changes in October 2010 which now mean they retain revenues from the scheme, which was originally designed to be revenue neutral. This has resulted in substantially higher compliance costs, and is now predicted to raise around £1bn per annum revenue by 2014-2015.