Newsletter: Winter 2009

Welcome to the Christmas edition of the Carbon Trust Standard newsletter.
The Copenhagen Climate Summit is finally upon us and will hopefully accelerate the global race to be low carbon. The UK has led the way so far with ambitious targets set in the Climate Change Act and with the introduction of the forthcoming CRC legislation which broadens the reach of carbon trading to another 5,000 organisations. But does it put the UK at a disadvantage? We think not as by preparing now the UK will be competitively positioned to take advantage of the low carbon economy. It is organisations such as yours that are preparing to operate in a low carbon way and that are using carbon to shape commercial strategies, products and services that will be positioned as frontrunners.

Inside this issue

Gap Analysis
For organisations that are interested in applying for the Standard for the first time or those going for recertification, our new Gap Analysis service is a low cost, low commitment way to understand your readiness to achieve the Standard. Gap Analysis identifies what gaps you have in achieving the Standard and will inform you what actions you need to put in place.
Find out more

A 0% business loan that will cut your costs
The Carbon Trust is offering interest free loans of up to £500,000 to businesses to replace their old equipment with energy efficient equipment. This is a simple cost efficient way to reduce energy costs and improve your bottom line. Find out how much other businesses have saved through getting a loan and if you too are eligible.
Find out more

Are you measuring business travel emissions?
Recertification under the Carbon Trust Standard requires an organisation to report on level 2 scope 3 emissions: this means business travel. Here we clarify what this covers and provide helpful tips on how to go about capturing the data.
Read more

Decarbonising the brand
The need for transparency and independent verification presented by growing consumer demand for green accountability has been a key driver for organisations to achieve the Standard. We’ve teamed up with Haymarket’s Marketing magazine to create a series of reports to help brands do the right thing as well as be seen to be doing the right thing.
Read more

News in brief

CRC update
On the 7th October, DECC announced the changes to the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme. We’ve summarised the key policy changes and updated our FD’s guide to the CRC.
Read the key CRC summary changes.

Recent achievers
Congratuations to the 40 organisations that have recently achieved certification. These include organisations such as Dyson Ltd, Hilton International Hotels (UK) Ltd, Capita Group Plc and the University of Sunderland.
Find out who else has joined them.

Corporate newsletter
Keep up to date on the wider work of the Carbon Trust and have a look at their new quarterly newsletter launched last month.

Gap Analysis

We’re here to help

We know that many organisations are keen to demonstrate both their commitment to and results in carbon reduction through the achievement of the Carbon Trust Standard.

We also know that some organisations do not feel that they are ready for an assessment under the Carbon Trust Standard or are not confident that they can achieve certification. Common areas of concern include:

Are we measuring the right thing?
Are we measuring in the right level of detail?
Is our data set robust enough and valid under the rules?
Do we show the required reduction?
Are our existing policies, processes and plans in place, sufficient?
Do we have enough evidence for the quantitative part of the assessment?

With this in mind, we have created a new Gap Analysis service to help you address these concerns.

What do you get from a Gap Analysis?

A Carbon Trust Standard Accredited Assessor will be allocated to your organisation and will typically spend half of their allocated time on site and then produce a report on their findings.

Gap Analysis will enable you to gain a clear understanding as to whether you are able to proceed with an assessment, and if not, will identify what actions need to be put in place to enable an assessment to be carried out. The resulting report will:

Detail whether you have a suitable dataset in place to undergo an assessment or re-assessment.
Highlight a state of readiness under each of the key sections targeted throughout the qualitative aspect of assessment.
Highlight the ideal time for you to apply for certification under the Standard
Provide guidance to key areas that need to be addressed prior to assessment.

Level of support
The amount of support received is primarily dependent upon an organisation’s annual energy expenditure, not dissimilar to an assessment. Additional time may be spent on a discretional basis following discussions with an account manager.


Organisation’s annual energy expenditure	Time allocated
< £500k	1-2 days
£500k - £1.5m	2-3 days
> £1.5m	3 days

Prices are fixed at £1,000 per day.

The service has so far been met with positive response, Glyn Lee, Energy Manager from East of England Co-operative Society, one of our customers who took advantage of the service earlier this year, added

"We had a Gap Analysis completed to understand what we needed to do to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard. The process helped us to identify the gaps we had in our data, our carbon policy and carbon management plans and provided us with a formal report that we used as a platform for discussion internally.

It also now forms part of the framework we have in place to improve our carbon management policy and hope to be in a position to apply for assessment early in 2010.

I recommend Gap Analysis to any organisation that is worried whether it is ready to apply. It will either give you the confidence to apply for certification immediately or arm you with the information you need to help you pass"

For more information on Gap Analysis contact us by emailing cts@carbontrust.co.uk or by calling 0800 019 1443

A 0% business loan that will cut your costs

Energy-guzzling heating, air conditioning, lighting and manufacturing equipment could be draining your business of vital profits. To help businesses upgrade to more efficient equipment and cut energy bills, the Carbon Trust is offering 0% loans of up to £500,000.

However you choose to look at it, an unsecured, interest free loan from the Carbon Trust is a simple and cost efficient way for your business to reduce energy costs and have savings go straight to your bottom line. Repayments are calculated to be offset by your anticipated monthly energy savings, which means you could purchase and install energy saving equipment without it costing your organisation a penny.

What’s more, applying for your loan is easy, there are no arrangement fees and you’ll have a conditional offer within 24 hours.

By implementing energy saving measures you could save your business around 20% a year on energy costs. Money that’s not being spent on energy bills is money that can be put to good use elsewhere. And by increasing energy efficiency, you’ll be preparing your business for the low carbon economy of the future.

Thousands of companies have now taken advantage of the 0% business loans, with recent customers saving over £100,000 off their annual energy bills:

When Roberts Mart, Leeds-based printers of flexible packaging, moved to new premises, two interest free loans helped the business make the site as efficient as possible, shrinking its energy bills by £129,000.

The oil and gas-fired heating system at Hever Castle may not have dated back to the building’s original 12th century roots, but it was old, covered in asbestos and costing the owners a fortune. A Carbon Trust interest free business loan helped fund a new biomass boiler, which should save the castle around £50,000 every year.

Following an on-site carbon survey on its premises by the Carbon Trust, Maxim Logistics Group Ltd used a loan to install new energy saving lighting for its main warehouse. The changes have improved working conditions by making the warehouse brighter, while cutting the company’s annual energy bill by almost 41%.

When shopfitter and equipment provider TSF Retail Solutions Ltd moved to new premises, the first job was to replace the lighting and heating systems. An 0% business loan of £91,500 from the Carbon Trust enabled the company to install a range of new heating and lighting systems, which were more efficient and better suited to its needs. Through the energy savings alone TSF will have repaid the loan within three years, and will continue to save over £33,000 in energy costs every year.

Any company that matches the definition of an SME could be eligible (companies with fewer than 250 full time employees and with less than €50 million in turnover/approximately £43m or less than €43 million in assets/approximately £37m. Also, larger businesses that don’t fall under the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme should also qualify for a loan – this typically equates to companies that spend less than £500,000 a year on electricity.

More information on the Carbon Trust’s 0% business loans is available at www.carbontrust.co.uk/loans

Are you measuring business travel emissions?

An important part of the Carbon Trust Standard is the requirement for ongoing carbon reductions and for reductions to be made from a wider scope of emission sources. Organisations seeking recertification will be required to report on further mandatory emission sources in addition to those covered at first certification. This is referred to in the Carbon Trust Standard methodology as a ‘Level 2’ footprint and includes business travel as a key source of emissions.

The Rules

Reporting business travel emissions is voluntary for a level 1 footprint.
When seeking recertification medium and large organisations must report a level 2 footprint. Measurement of business travel emissions is mandatory in a level 2 footprint.
Organisations initial recertification will not include business travel in the reduction calculation, measurement will suffice but the data will be used as a benchmark. Subsequent recertification assessments will include business travel in the reduction calculation.
Business travel emissions should cover the same organisational boundary as other emissions sources.
Contractor/supplier business travel is not included.
Commuting is not included.
Emissions from your owned or leased vehicles should be accounted for separately and are mandatory for medium and large organisations at first certification (known as a ‘Level 1’ footprint).

What emissions are included?

Emissions associated with employee business use of:

Flights
Public transport (including rail, bus, coaches, ferry etc)
Private cars (vehicles not owned/leased by the organisation)
Taxis

What should you measure?

The inputs required to measure business travel emissions are relatively straight forward. In general the following are required:

Mode of travel, the more detail the more accurate the footprint
In order of preference, distance travelled or number of trips

The main exception to the above is use of private cars for business purposes - where quantity and type of fuel is preferable. However, if unavailable the type of car used and mileage associated could be used.

Emission factors will be provided by the Carbon Trust Standard Company at the time of assessment.

For guideline emission factors by mode of travel see Annex 6 of Defra/DECC’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, available at the following link: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/reporting/conversion-factors.htm

How should you measure?

The method for gathering business travel data will depend on the particular systems in place at your organisation.

Contact your travel management company. Many organisations use a travel management company who should be able to provide useful distance data on flights and rail use.
Ask your finance team. Company financial systems and expense claims can often provide mode of transport, distance and/or number of trips. Private vehicle usage may be found in mileage claims made by staff.
Start measuring early on. You will need two years historical data for recertification so you should be measuring your emissions soon after the end of your certified data year. If data gaps exist it may be possible to improve systems to gather useful business travel data.
Use us – Your account managers are here to help if you have any concern when it comes to recertification.

We are currently investigating useful tools that may help you measure business travel emissions and will update you shortly with our findings.

Sources: Guidelines to Defra / DECC's GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, The National Business Travel Network Corporate Social Responsibility & Travel Footprint Toolkit.