Tag Archives: Sustainability

Cambium report examines public sector attitudes to low carbon and sustainability, while targeting CRC innovation opportunities for suppliers

Posted on 14/04/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

I attended the launch yesterday of a new report targetting the sustainable innovation opportunities offered by the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.

The report, by sustainable innovation specialist Cambium, provides a  systematic analysis of the financial and reputational exposure of the 2,770 so called ‘participants’ in the CRC Scheme. This reputational aspect is important with the first performance league tables due out in six months time, in October.

The report, which was launched at Intellect in London with attendance from Intellect, hosting specialist Rackspace and the UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development (UKCEED) is aimed primarily at suppliers of innovative technologies that can help the organisations affected by this legislation to reduce their likely tax bills, cut energy use and protect their reputations as well as be able to pomote themaselves as responsible businesses.

Cambium believes the report will be of use to trade bodies and CRC Participants, policymakers and public stakeholders, and investors.

The report features an index which examines public and private sector participants for a range of sustainability and energy reduction related indicators and categorises them as leaders, early majority, late majority or laggards within their sector, providing a measure of their likelihood to invest in and adopt energy saving or other innovative technologies, supporting sustainable economic growth. 

The Cambium study identifies and explores the significant differences between the public and privat sector attitudes to a “carbon” and “social awareness” indicator and makes recommendations for better targeting of the market opportunity by suppliers.

There is a release available giving more details here and you can get a copy of the report here

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DECC faces Renewable Sources Challenge

Posted on 30/11/2010 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

Interesting story from Reuters today saying Britain will miss its 2010 goal of making 10 percent of electricity from renewable sources, according to a Public Accounts Committee report.

According to the PAC report into the funding of renewable energy, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has admitted it will not meet the government’s own target of increasing the share of low-carbon renewable energy in Britain’s electricity supply to 10 percent by the end of 2010.

DECC estimates that over 30 percent of electricity will have to come from renewable sources by 2020 in order to meet the target set by the EU to get 15 percent of all Britain’s energy from renewables by the end of the decade.

The share of renewables crept slowly up from 2.7 percent in 2000 to 6.7 percent at the end of 2009, leaving Britain lagging in performance for green energy growth and making it a challenge to reach the 2020 goals.

According to PAC chairman Margaret Hodge, DECC will have to have a “greater sense of urgency and purpose if it is to achieve the dramatic increase in renewable energy supplies needed to meet the goals.”

The PAC went on, “We are concerned that the Department agreed to the legally binding EU-target to supply 15 percent of the UK’s energy from renewable sources by 2020, without clear plans, targets for each renewable energy technology, estimates of funding required or understanding how the rate at which planning applications for onshore wind turbines were being rejected might affect progress.”

Although the DECC is responsible for ensuring Britain reaches the targets, which are aimed at cutting emissions of climate warming gases from the energy sector, funding is actually delivered through a number of routes that DECC does not control.

Potential developers of renewable energy projects have said they could delay projects until it is clear what level of funding the different technologies – from offshore wind to solar and wave power – will get.

The report says some 40 percent of renewable schemes in England do not get planning approval, while others fail to get adequate funding.

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