British American Tobacco, Centre Parcs and Manchester United are among more than 20 companies and organisations that have won joint top spot in a new league table published today that ranks businesses and public sector bodies according to their efforts to improve energy efficiency.
But the
Carbon Reduction Commitment (
CRC)
Performance League Table has also shamed well-known brands including Virgin Atlantic, Vue Cinemas and Welcome Break, for their lack of action on
energy efficiency.
The Performance League Table of more than 2000 organisations includes major supermarkets, retailers, restaurant chains, hospitals, Government departments and local authorities, and ranks them according to the measures they have taken on energy use as preparation for taking part in the CRC scheme. The table also shows participants’ annual carbon emissions, but does not rank them on them this year.
The CRC scheme, which launched last year, requires large public and private sector organisations to buy allowances from next year to cover emissions produced from their usage of electricity and heat.
Reducing energy usage
CRC enforcer, the Environment Agency, which published today’s league table, said that over 60 per cent of organisations have taken action by installing smart meters and obtaining a certificate for 'good energy management’ from the Carbon Trust or other accreditation scheme.
"It’s very encouraging that six out of 10 organisations taking part in the scheme have taken steps to improve their energy management," the Environment Agency’s director of Environment and Business, Ed Mitchell, said. "The UK needs its high-street shops, major businesses, councils, Government departments and other big energy users to use less electricity to help meet tough carbon reduction targets.
"This scheme encourages all big organisations to measure and reduce energy use which in turn should also save them money and help cut the UK’s carbon footprint."
The CRC involves businesses and organisations, which use more than 6000 megawatt hours of electricity per year – equivalent to an annual electricity bill of at least £500,000.The Performance League Table is now the main incentive of the CRC, following the Government’s decision to
scrap the 'revenue recycling’ element of the scheme and instead keep all the money raised through the CRC to support the public finances.
Calls for league table to be scrapped
But the league table has been criticised for being over-buraucratic and, today, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) called for it to be scrapped.
"The league table produced as part of the Carbon Reduction Commitment is just pointless duplication," BRC director of Business, Tom Ironside, said. "Instead of being able to focus on developing environmentally friendly business approaches, retailers are being forced to spend time and resources on extra bureaucracy. This flies in the face of the Government’s commitment to reducing red tape."
Despite many investing in
energy efficiency measures, none of the major retailers were amongst the top 20 in the Performance League Table, although Asda Stores, Morrisons Supermarkets, Home Retail Group, John Lewis Partnership, Marks and Spencer and Tesco all made it into the top 100.
How the rankings were calculated
Rankings for this year’s table were calculated by working out the percentage of electricity and gas supplies covered by voluntary installed automatic meters and the percentage of an organisations CRC emissions covered by the Carbon Trust Standard or recognised equivalent scheme. The calculations were based on the data reported to the CRC registry by organisations in their annual reports.
The Environment Agency said this year’s data will form a baseline for future years, which will also show overall CO2 emissions, annual emissions savings and progress on energy efficiency.
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