Posted by John Stanley
After my last post about the CRC developments in the UK, I realized that it might be helpful to provide a quick guide to the alphabet soup of acronyms that describe the UK’s climate change legislation. At the very least, making this guide was helpful for me.
The most important feature of this guide is that I’ve tried to include information links to the official government sites wherever possible, rather than simply reporting information I’ve read in secondary articles. This way, readers who want to know more can quickly find and browse the official UK government info.
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Climate Change Act of 2008
This Act is the centerpiece of the UK’s climate legislation. It sets a carbon reduction target of 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, and 34% below 1990 levels by 2020. The Act also creates the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) and establishes five-year carbon budgets.
(Note that the original text of the Act said the 2020 target was 26% below 1990 levels, but this was amended to 34% in 2009. )
More source links: Sections of the Act on 2050 target, 2020 target, carbon budgets, and CCC. Amendment to 34% here. DECC’s summary of the Act here.
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Committee on Climate Change (CCC)
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is an independent body established under the Climate Change Act to advise the UK Government on setting carbon budgets, and to report to Parliament on the progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. –quoted from the CCC website
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Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
(DECC’s “About us” page)
DECC was created in late 2008 to bring together the UK’s energy and climate policies, which had previously been handled by separate agencies. The department is responsible for all aspects of UK energy policy. DECC divides its work into four key areas: (a) global climate change and energy, (b) UK energy supply, (c) supporting consumers, and (d) working towards a low-carbon UK.
More source links: DECC What we do page
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CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
(formerly know as the Carbon Reduction Commitment, or CRC)
(DECC’s page on the CRC)
The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is the UK’s mandatory energy savings and climate change scheme, which will start in April 2010. CRC will operate as a cap-and-trade system and is designed to address CO2 emissions not already covered under Climate Change Agreements and the EU Emissions Trading System. The CRC covers large public and private sector organizations that use more than 6,000 MWh of electricity annually. The government estimates that entities covered under the CRC are responsible for about 10% of the UK’s carbon total emissions.
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Renewables Obligation (RO)
Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC)
(OFGEM’s page about the RO)
The RO is the main support scheme for renewable electricity projects in the UK, which came into effect in 2002. It requires electricity suppliers to source an increasing fraction of their electricity from renewable sources. A supplier’s compliance is tallied via Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs)–one ROC is issued for each MWh of renewable electricity generated. Each year, a company must present enough ROCs to demonstrate that it has met its obligation, or pay a buy-out price for each ROC by which it falls short.
The RO program is administrated by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, whose day-to-day functions are handled by the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM).
More source links: OFGEM About us page
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Climate Change Levy (CCL)
Climate Change Agreements (CCA)
(DECC’s page on CCL)
The CCL is a tax on energy use in industry, commerce, and the public sector, designed to encourage energy efficiency and reduced GHG emissions. For electricity, the Levy is 0.0047 £/kWh. The CCL took effect in 2001.
Climate Change Agreements (CCA’s) allow certian energy-intesive businesses to receive a discount on the CCL of up to 80%, in return for meeting energy efficiency or carbon reduction targets.
Other source links: DECC’s page on CCA, CCL introduction page at HM Revenue & Customs, 2009 CCL rates, Carbon Trust’s CCL page
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