New Carbon Management Association set to tackle CRC challenges

A new Carbon Management Association will be launched to help businesses and organisations manage their carbon more effectively. The announcement was made by Lord Redesdale, chairman of the Anaerobic Digestion & Biogas Association (ABDA), at the Sustainability Leaders Forum in London yesterday (November 3).


The Liberal Peer told delegates that he was setting up the new association as a response to the energy challenges facing the UK and the introduction of the Government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) in April.

Lord Redesdale warned delegates that fuel prices would continue to rise for the foreseeable future and that a broad range of energy resources, including nuclear power, would be needed to meet domestic and industry demand. However, he added that the nuclear option needed to be subsidised and this would be done through carbon pricing.

He also warned industry bodies in the packed forum that the Government’s CRC was going to be “the largest green tax almost ever. It’s about £0.5B to a £1B coming in, in April on business,” he said.

Lord Redesdale foresaw an era of fuel poverty, not only for domestic consumers but also for industry, because of fierce and growing competition for energy resources. He said the only way to manage the demand in the absence of supply was through pricing.

He went on to say that it was no longer possible to see energy as the “incredibly cheap” resource it has been seen as in the past. It was time, he added, to start seeing it as a scarce resource and for companies to start making carbon savings, particularly ahead of the forthcoming tax in April.

Lord Redesdale explained that the Carbon Management Association’s aim was to increase the number of people on the ground who see it as their job to manage carbon.

“At the moment, we’ve always done it at the top through facilities management,” he said. “What we actually need to do is create thousands, maybe millions of carbon managers out there and so the Carbon Management Association will be working with a number of course providers and we will approve carbon management courses.”

He added that he thought a large number of industries would welcome the new development and train up their staff. “Fifty per cent of all energy management is behaviour change,” he said.

Nick Warburton

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