Enigin Update - UK Energy Intensive Businesses Exceed Energy Saving Targets
UK ENERGY intensive industries saved 28.5 million tonnes of carbon last year, exceeding the target under the Climate Change Agreement (CCA) tax break scheme, according to new government figures.
Energy intensive businesses who voluntarily sign up for the CCA get a discount of 65 percent on the Government's Climate Change Levy (CCL) if they meet the agreed energy efficiency targets through to March 2013.
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published this week the 2010 carbon savings from 54 CCA sectors, including chemicals, food and drink, concrete, paper, aerospace and steel manufacturing.
Those sectors improved on their set target, saving 25.8mtCO2/year, with actual emissions dropping 28.5mtCO2/year, this represents a saving of 2.7mtCO2/year, after considering fluctuations in the steel market were factored in.
Authors of the report, Consultants AEA, revealed that out of the 54 sectors, 38 met their 2010 targets, after taking emissions trading into account, while 24 of the examined sectors missed their original targets. But, 21 of these did meet a final adjusted target through buying carbon allowances via the EU Emissions Trading System market.
Due to this, AEA were able to report that 99 percent of the 9,634 facilities under the scheme had their CCL discounts renewed by the UK Government.
As reported on these pages yesterday the UK spirits industry, particularly Scottish Scotch distillers, claimed the success of its members, leading to around a £2.6m saving a year in tax breaks.
However, Jeremy Nicholson, Director of the UK Energy Intensive Users Group, said members of his group need further help because of the surge in energy prices, citing German competitors who benefit from carbon tax rebates worth more than €5 billion a year, paying only €0.5 of the €35 tax.
Enigin Distributor across the UK have the cutting edge technology from Enigin to help energy intensive businesses to gain evermore control of their energy use and spend - reducing the impact of rising energy costs and reducing emissions.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change is working with the UK Department of Business Innovation and Skills and the HM Treasury on developing a package of support for the energy intensive industries, and the results are expected to be announced on 29 November as part of the Electricity Market Reforms.
Picture of Seal Sands Chemical Works and Refinery © Copyright Maxwell S W Birchenough and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
