The Carbon Economy

With the introduction of the Climate Change Act in 2008 the UK Government ushered in a new approach to managing and responding to climate change in the UK and became the first country in the world to establish legally binding targets for the reduction of targeted greenhouse emissions by the year 2050. The Target for 2050 is that the net UK carbon account for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than that of the baseline year of 1990.

Carbon Budgets:

The Climate Change Act requires the UK Secretary of State for the Environment to set carbon budgets. Carbon budgets are in effect a cap on the total quantity of greenhouse gases emitted within the UK, net of credits purchased from the EU trading emissions scheme and other international trading schemes.

For detailed information on the Act, the Budgets and other relevant information visit the UK Committee on Climate Change website.

The European commission for Climate Action provides an excellent resource for learning what is happening with European legislation as well as what is happening around the Europe in regards to the impact of global warming.

How does the Climate Change Act affect businesses in the UK?

A range of legislation is in place across industry in the public and private sectors. In particular the Carbon Reduction Commitment which places a cap on emissions for large, non-energy intensive organisations along with the Climate Change Levy which applies across all sectors.

A great place to find information covering all aspects of legislation can be found on the website of The Carbon Trust

Practical Carbon reduction steps!

There really is no reason to not act to reduce your carbon emissions. Aside from helping the country to achieve our 80% reduction target and the global environment, most practical steps will save money. What are you waiting for?

Companies, who take steps to reduce their emissions, not only make a big difference to their energy output but can cut their overheads and bills.

It is estimated that IT accounts for nearly 5% of all energy used globally.