A new report on an
energy efficiency reward scheme shows how businesses across
multiple industrial sectors are cutting energy usage in order to
fight climate change.
The Climate Change Agreements (CCA) scheme, which offers tax
benefits to firms which agree to energy efficiency targets, saw a
collective reduction in emissions of 6.6 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide equivalent during 2019 and 2020.
This equates to an overall emissions reduction of 13.3% across a
total of 8,705 facilities signed up to the scheme, which is
administered by the Environment Agency on behalf of the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The EA’s latest biennial report, published online, also shows
that, between 2013 and 2020, the CCA scheme has seen total
emissions savings of 23.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Sir , Chief Executive of the
Environment Agency, said:
The CCA scheme is encouraging businesses to find ways to reduce
their energy usage and consequently their carbon emissions.
Innovation is key, and the Environment Agency is here to support
that through progressive regulation.
We are already seeing the effects of climate change in the UK, so
it is vital that businesses face up to the challenge of adapting
to a different climate, thinking about energy use as well as the
use of natural resources, such as water, which will become more
scarce in the future.
The CCA scheme encourages industry-wide energy reduction, with
associated reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, to help the
UK’s drive to become net zero by 2050.
Energy efficiency improvement targets within the CCA scheme are
agreed between Government and sector associations.
Participating operators that meet their energy efficiency targets
receive an agreed reduction in the Climate Change Levy, a tax
that is applied to commercial electricity, gas, and solid fuel
bills.
During the 2019-20 reporting period, the operators of 1,510
(47.4%) agreements, covering 3,110 facilities, met or exceeded
their improvement targets. Operators who failed to meet their
targets used any banked emissions savings from previous target
periods, and paid a buy-out fee for each outstanding tonne of
emissions above the target.
