Carbonetworks Unveils New Tool to Help U.K. Businesses Count Carbon
Canadian software company Carbonetworks launched new tools today aimed at helping United Kingdom (U.K.) businesses comply with the upcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC).
The CRC is a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program aimed at more than 5,000 organizations that are less energy-intensive than those falling under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), such as hospitals, retailers, and universities. The auction-based program will begin its first phase in April 2010, but measurement began in April. Collecting accurate energy consumption data will challenge many organizations, some have warned, while noncompliance will be very costly.
Carbonetworks’ new application offers modeling and scenario planning to identify energy-saving initiatives and emissions and energy consumption reports, all of which are available through its existing software platform.
“Carbonetworks’ software provides the tools needed for CRC compliance, allowing businesses to take advantage of the incentives instead of trying to dodge penalties at the last minute,” Michael Meehan, company president and CEO, said in a prepared statement.
Beyond penalties, the U.K. government also will publish companies’ performance and rank, leading to some scrambling to reduce their impacts ahead of the program’s start to avoid a public shaming.
Carbonetworks isn’t the only company stepping forward with resources to help U.K. businesses comply with the CRC. Pricewaterhouse Coopers unveiled a new guide of best practices in late May to help firms report their emissions and energy use. The company produced a reporting model of a fictitious entity that illustrates strategy, targets, performance and benchmarking. Separately, U.K.-based Verdantix published its own set of best practices in late 2008 to help companies develop a CRC strategy, such as creating an action plan and making carbon management mandatory.
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