Manufacturers unprepared for Carbon Reduction Commitment legislation

That's the key finding of a survey by SAP of 400 businesses in the UK that qualify under the CRC, which has a deadline of April 2010. The research finds that only one third of UK organisations are fully prepared for the CRC, despite there remaining less than 130 days. Astonishingly, 20% have not even started planning or have no idea what measures they need to take – risking reputational and financial penalties from poor performance. Simon Godfrey, so-called sustainability champion for SAP UK, says that while a 77% majority of UK companies believe CRC is an opportunity to improve carbon footprint, less than half have employed the necessary IT to do so. Of those that do have a system in place to track progress and manage carbon footprint, a third are relying on Excel spreadsheets, while a further 12% have an internally-developed system with what Godfrey believes is "less than ideal functionality". "Clear governance and ownership for the CRC will be essential to reducing the administrative burden of what will become an annual requirement," insists Godfrey. "At the same time, if organisations want to perform well in the league tables they need a comprehensive carbon management system to be able to easily collect, gather and analyse data pertaining to their carbon emissions." Godfrey is urging manufacturers and utilities that are behind to start by establishing clear ownership and effective IT systems in order to help them turn the CRC from an obligation to an opportunity. "There is still time to turn this around," he says, adding that if manufacturers and utility companies genuinely want to avoid the financial risks and a poor ranking in the proposed league tables of CO2 emitters, they need to act fast.