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DEFRA Carbon Plans are Groundbreaking

By Daniel Stouffer

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 23Jan2010 Word count: 485 Viewed: 308 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

It seems that the British, like the rest of us, like their acronyms. This seems to be especially true when it comes to the thorny problem of climate change. DECC absorbed DEFRA and BERR to put forward a more consolidated front, but however you look at that, the British are certainly blazing a trail within this arena and have passed what is effectively the first legally binding legislation with teeth.

The DEFRA carbon approach resulted in the Carbon Reduction Commitment, a child of the Climate Change Act of 2008. The British certainly moved quickly on this to meet what are termed carbon budgets for the first years of the program. The CRC is an innovative climate change and energy saving program which has been designed to create a quantum shift away from traditional thinking.

Many observers worldwide have been impressed by the DEFRA carbon approach and by the speed with which the British government has worked to consolidate its position and to move beyond the traditional restraints of the European Union. Should their program be successful, it is likely to be copied in many different parts of the world.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment is designed to place a financial incentive on carbon emission reduction by, for the first time, establishing carbon as a commodity and fixing a price per ton. The government is at pains to point out that the scheme should benefit those who are forced to participate and not be seen as yet another administrative burden.

As the UK government is set to emphasize, benefits to participants in the DEFRA carbon scheme may amount to around $1 billion by the year 2020. Any revenues derived from the scheme will be neutral to the exchequer, the UK version of the Treasury Department. Revenues will be recycled to participants in this way.

While the government is ready to encourage and provide financial incentives, in a sense at least, it is not afraid to wield a stick in addition to dangling the carrot. Participants in the DEFRA carbon scheme known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment may face reputational harm if they are not able, for one reason or another, to perform well in terms of carbon reduction. A league table will be published for all to see and judge.

Around 20,000 organizations will be expected to participate in the CRC in one form or another, but only about 5,000 will be required to actively participate by documenting and measuring their carbon emission and by purchasing allowances from the government accordingly.

The UK has taken the lead in the fight against global warming and climate change by introducing sweeping legislation which is designed to commence in April of 2010. The target is to reduce carbon equivalent emissions of at least 4MTCO2 per year within 10 years. Compared to a 1990 baseline, this is a reduction of about 26% of greenhouse gas emissions, yet represents only the start of a push to huge reductions by the year 2050.

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