Two Thirds Of Enterprises Not Ready For Carbon Accounting

“The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is an opportunity and threat for those organisations captured within its net,” said service director of business process analysis at Quocirca, Clive Longbottom. “Those who do not make plans for managing their exposure will find themselves facing stiff penalties. However, those who can plan accordingly and set themselves achievable and sensible targets will find that they can benefit in solid financial ways through the future trading of their CRC credits.”

A push in the right direction

Feedback from a recent eWEEK Europe web seminar revealed that, while sustainable data centres are creating interest among potential users, many companies are waiting for regulations to to come in before adopting them. “At the moment, companies are required to produce independently audited financial reports,” said Pip Squire, engineering director of data centre company Ark Continuity. “If they have a carbon account, almost the same as their financial account, that will create more pressure.”

Earlier this month, the Green Grid and BCS announced they were teaming up to help companies adhere to new carbon regulations, but also warned that not enough companies are preparing for the CRC. In an interview with eWEEK Europe’s Andrew Donoghue, Green Grid chairman John Tuccillo said “I asked how many people are familiar with the legislation which comes into effect this Spring coming, and only four hands went up in the room. There is a significant amount of activity that, as an industry, we have to pay attention to and be engaged proactively with.”

At a recent data centre round table event hosted by Blade, Harkeeret Singh – global head of data centre energy optimisation at Thomson Reuters – produced a list of key drivers for companies wanting to improve energy efficiency in the data centre. The list is reproduced below:

• Revenue protection – greener products are being requested more and more from customers
• Brand improvement – showing the company is proactive in the CSR space and achieving a good position in the league table as per the UK CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
• Cost reduction – taking out waste and driving towards a more efficient estate holistically
• Mitigation against future power costs – OFGEM released a report about a month ago which stated that there is a 200 billion pound investment required in the UK’s power infrastructure and predicted the nearly doubling of energy costs in the next 15 years
• Legislation in both Europe and the US – there will be carbon reduction targets and a carbon cost which will be incurred by consumers whether directly or indirectly
• Environmental Benefits – Providing a greener planet for our children and grandchildren