UK Businesses Brace For Looming Carbon Bill
The European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has been around since 2005 and accounts for most of the carbon dioxide (CO2) allowances issued to businesses in the world.
In the US, President Barack Obama has also thrown his weight behind a cap-and-trade scheme.
But few realise the UK will soon adopt a carbon trading scheme of its own in less than two years - the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) that was announced back in 2007.
And carbon consultancy IMServ believes that up to 6,000 businesses in the UK will be liable to join the mandatory scheme.
Businesses are facing huge bills if they remain unprepared and Datamonitor estimates that UK businesses could face a £1.4bn bill for the carbon credits they need by April 2011, when the CRC permits are first sold.
The CRC scheme will begin next April when private and public sector organisations, including the NHS and state schools, begin monitoring their emissions and reporting them to the government.
A league table of the participants will be published by October 2011 showing the targets, reductions in emissions and so on.
Based on volumes of electricity and gas emissions, retail businesses will be hit the hardest with over 30% of total CO2 emissions, according to Datamonitor.
"If the finance director of a company has to write cheques for carbon allowances, they're going to start asking why those costs are so high" says Henry Garthwaite, Carbon Trust
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