50 days left to register for CRC, warns Environment Agency

Although more than 1,200 have registered – between them reporting over half the electricity consumption expected to be included within the scheme – that leaves several thousand potentially facing fines and embarrassment. Martin McCann, head of sustainability at SAP UK, is not surprised. "A study, commissioned by SAP in November 2009, found that many companies were struggling to prepare for CRC. In fact 20% had not even started planning or had no idea what measures they needed to take," he recalls. McCann suggests that manufacturers should aim to look beyond the CRC as just another compliance hurdle and "find ways to make their businesses more cost efficient and competitive". He worries, though, that many companies have never collected energy and fuel data to the level of accuracy required. "Many registered companies are engaging in a huge spreadsheet manipulation task expecting that this will enable CRC reporting. However, spreadsheets, don't make for easy auditing, making it likely that errors will be introduced into the CO2 equivalent conversion factors and final submission." Critically, he adds, that means those manufacturers won't be able easily to mange energy reduction initiatives – the objective of the CRC scheme.