Are you Ready for Mandatory Carbon Footprinting?

Phil Wilcock from 1E writes: A new survey finds that only 25% of businesses here in the UK are measuring their Carbon Footprints. While that may not set alarm bells ringing in most other parts of the world, here in the UK it's a little more serious as it's only six weeks before the deadline for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, a cap-and-trade program for large private and public organizations that are not covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. This means organizations such as Universities, supermarkets and city councils.

The CRC will apply to around 5,000 large organizations that use more than 6,000 megawatt-hours of electricity annually. The UK's Environment Agency said last week that just 1,229 organizations had signed up to meet the Sept. 30 deadline. Those that take early action through various certifications, such as the Carbon Trust Standard, can earn a higher ranking on the CRC league table, which will eventually be made public so that poorer performing companies can be 'named and shamed'.

According to the report, most companies are now resigned to the fact that Carbon Footprinting (and paying for the emission of excess carbon) is going to become law sooner rather than later.

“The debate about whether or not carbon footprinting and payment will become mandatory for business appears to be over as far as finance heads are concerned," Harry Morrison, general manager of the Carbon Trust Standard Co., which conducted the survey, said in a statement. "Yet only a minority have taken action so far and these early movers have a clear advantage. Building carbon management into the DNA of the business now not only ensures preparedness for future compliance requirements but also brings immediate cost and efficiency benefits and competitive edge."

In another interesting report, it seems that even those companies that are recording sustainability stats aren't doing it so efficiently.

In a recent a US survey by iReuse Companies were polled to find out which sustainability metrics were being tracked, which were most important and how data was being managed. Responses came from a variety of people within these companies, but overall one of the main conclusions is that while managing and reporting electricity use is seen as critical, the systems used to record such data are usually quite basic. The report finds that Excel-based systems are most often used, but many are looking for solutions that are easier to use and more sophisticated in the interpretation of the data.

Luckily for them, both NightWatchman and NightWatchman Server Edition have sophisticated reporting engines which can be used to feed into a company-wide sustainability report. Here at 1E we believe that Carbon Management is just as important as financial management and should be firmly embedded in your company at all levels. With more and more legislation coming down the road in order to force companies to account for their energy use, now is the time to be looking to both report on and reduce your Carbon Footprint. With 1E's current Energy Management software and great free resources such as the Carbon Management Center from GreenBiz.com to get you started, help is at hand.