Guest post by Bethany Cox, Marketing Manager at Acre; climate change recruitment specialists and co-founding organisation of the CRC Network
As I’m sure the members of Renewable Energy Jobs are well aware, the Government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment legislation comes into full effect in April 2010. Many of you may be involved in you’re the measurement of your organisation’s carbon emissions and actions to reduce these emissions to minimise the impact of the CRC financially and from a brand perspective.
Having spoken with many of our clients Acre found that some organisations were extremely pro-active in realising the benefits that the CRC could have, while others remained confused about if and how the CRC would impact them.
For this reason Acre teamed up with sustainability solution specialist Atos Origin to launch the CRC Network a free independent network which provides an online forum and live events for professionals involved in the Carbon Reduction Commitment to help facilitate understanding, share solutions and ideas, and identify opportunities.
Last month saw the first event hosted by the CRC Network focusing on the impact of the CRC on landlords and tenants.
There was a high turn out on the night and a lively debate followed some insightful presentations from key industry professionals including Liz Peace CBE, Chief Executive Officer of the British Property Federation and Tatiana Bosteels, Head of Responsible Investment at Hermes Real Estate. The over riding message was a positive one that saw the CRC as a good legislation that would bring positive change and if utilised correctly, could offer valuable opportunities for organisational improvements and energy savings.
Martin Stephens, Energy consultant at GIS, stated, “The CRC will go ahead and could be viewed as an organisational ‘Health Check’, and could lead to compliance, improved knowledge of building performance and an internal allocation of responsibilities. The CRC empowers Energy Managers and, through raising the CRC to board level attention, it can allow for strategic review, and at a local level the opportunity to look at education and training throughout the organisation to influence behavioural change.”
Sam Pilcher, Head of Environment at Citi Realty addressed the CRC from a tenant perspective stating that CRC costs should not be passed on to tenants. Sam argues that it should not be landlords versus tenants but the two working as a cooperative, adding if Green Leases are introduced at the time of renewal he would want to see clauses included that made it compulsory for landlords to provide evidence of the effectiveness of a BMS and commitment to building refurbishments.
Speaking on behalf of landlords was Tatiana Bosteels Head of Responsible Investment at Hermes Real Estate. Tatiana confirmed that discussions had been entered into with their tenant portfolio and her presentation of the Hermes Emissions Trading Scheme (a virtual model of the CRC based on 103 properties) demonstrated the need for all parties to gain a greater understanding of the workings of CRC, not just at the planning stage but throughout all phases. Tatiana also raised questions around the need for a league table, arguing that a well assigned cap and auction process provides the right incentives for organisations to reduce emissions.
However this was not a view shared by everyone in the audience and a “show of hands” poll suggested that approximately only 25% of the audience agreed, with the largest proportion strongly in favour of the league tables as a way to motivate organisations.
There remain obvious questions outstanding amongst landlords and tenants about the future impacts of the CRC in preparation for compliance and future phases. However this event highlighted the constructive opportunities that could be created through CRC preparation and phase one, which could have a positive impact and help gain board level support for carbon reduction programmes across organisations — a positive view which is often overshadowed by negativity, uncertainty and misunderstanding.
We would be keen to hear from renewable energy jobs visitors who have been charged with managing their organisation’s activities to comply with the CRC with their opinions and experiences of the CRC.
Please post your thoughts here or join the CRC Network at www.crcnetwork.co.uk and visit our online forum.
Tags: CRC Network, UK
