CRC RESULTS MOVING IN THE ‘RIGHT DIRECTION’

Research by amee Limited, the environmental data company, shows positive progress for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (“the CRC”). The key findings included:

• In 2012, 70% of businesses that participated in the CRC reported a reduction in emissions
• From 2011 to 2012, total CO2(e) emissions fell from 29 million tonnes to 26 million tonnes – a 10% reduction
• This reduction is equivalent to twice the yearly emissions produced by some emerging market countries – Malawi, for example, produced 1.5m tonnes of CO2(e) in 2012
• In May 2011, the European Commission reported a global 3% rise in CO2(e) to an all time high of 34bn tonnes of CO2(e)

Tim Murphy, CEO of amee Limited, said: “amee’s analysis demonstrates that progress is being made. While it is not possible to measure the impact that a slowing economy has had on carbon dioxide emissions, it will be interesting to assess CRC impact as economies recover. amee believes corporates are moving away from viewing sustainability as simply stakeholder reporting, and increasingly seeing it as a key measurement of risk, improved supplier interaction and enhanced business efficiency. According to the recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Boston Consulting Group, more than one-third of companies are reporting a profit from their sustainability efforts; a 23 percent increase from the previous year. This highlights the business case for sustainability. In the future, environmental scores and risk will become as commonplace as credit scores are today. The environment is not a niche area or an abstract concept but is at the core of the entire economy.”
The CRC is a mandatory scheme aimed at improving energy efficiency and cutting emissions in large public and private sector organisations. Organisations must participate in the CRC if they consume more than 6,000 megawatt-hours per year of half-hourly metered electricity during a qualification year. Government organisations and a range of businesses are increasingly reporting environmental data, and requesting that their suppliers do so too, as the benefits of measuring and sharing sustainability data become apparent. PWC provides further evidence of this trend in its 16th Annual Global CEO Survey, which reported that 41% of CEOs plan to increase the company’s focus on non-financial reporting.

David Shields, MD of Government Procurement Service (GPS) commented: “It is excellent to see the CRC programme showing an improvement in emissions from participating companies. Whilst the most forward-thinking businesses are implementing plans that improve both their own and their supply chains’ emissions, not enough understand their suppliers’ environmental performance and the tangible risks associated with it. Measuring and sharing environmental and financial metrics provides valuable insight for all businesses and a key lens on risk. At GPS, we believe that transparent sharing of data will benefit the whole of the UK business sector. GPS is encouraging all suppliers to measure and report emissions via amee’s free portal amee.com, which will create a change similar to that seen in the CRC programme.”

amee recently raised new funds from Amadeus, OATV and Union Square, who are some of the world’s most experienced new tech investors and have a particular focus on disruptive companies. amee’s Board is chaired by John Fry, who is the former Chief Executive of the leading regional publisher Johnston Press, and the Norwich based regional media group, Archant. He has also worked with the information company Dun & Bradstreet, including as President of Europe, Middle East and Africa. amee’s CEO is Tim Murphy, who was formerly President of Dun & Bradstreet North America, and has held management and Board roles at Alphyra, ICAP, Payzone and BPS. Paul Charmatz, also from business information, was previously MD Benelux and SVP Sales & Marketing Europe at Dun & Bradstreet. Together, the senior management team bring the disciplines and rigours of credit scoring and big data to the environmental space. The team also includes environmentalists, engineers, developers and staff from Experian, Equifax and Dow Jones.