The published CRC league table aims to provide a strong financial and reputational incentive for participants to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The league table will enable businesses, consumers, clients and the media to identify the annual CO2 reduction performance of all participants in the scheme. Participants will need to ascertain how various league table positions could impact on the organisation’s brand. Several factors should be taken into consideration:
During the first year of the CRC, participants will achieve a league table position based on the Early Action Metrics that include optimum installation of Automated Meters and successful accreditation to the Carbon Trust Standard, or an approved equivalent.
It is considered likely that many participants within the CRC will already have full AMR, or only be required to implement relatively low cost and simple measures to achieve this status. As such, participants will need to attain full AMR and at least partial Carbon Trust Standard accreditation, if they are to achieve a reasonably good ranking in the early years of the CRC league table.
The Carbon Reduction Commitment league table will rank all participants in the scheme on the basis of performance in three metrics.
First metric - Absolute Emissions
The first metric will look at the percentage of carbon emissions reduction for the organisation compared to the previous year. The absolute emissions metric will be based on a rolling average period of the past five years so, on any given year, the organisation will be compared with the previous five years. During the initial five-year period of the scheme, organisations will only be compared against the years that have passed since the start of the scheme. In the first year, 'Absolute Emission' will not be included in the league table calculations.
Second Metric - Growth
The second metric will consider the percentage reduction in other carbon emissions per unit of turnover, which aims to recognise the growth of companies. As with the absolute emissions in the first metric, the second metric will operate on a rolling five-year comparison, but fewer years during the start of the scheme and not at all in the frist year.
Third Metric - Early
The early metric will consider early action initiatives made by the organisation to reduce their carbon emissions prior to April 2011. Qualification for the early action metric will require organisations to be assessed for coverage of the carbon trust standard and automatic meter readings. During the first year of the carbon reduction commitment scheme, the early action metric will act as the sole indicator of performance for organisations within the league tables
As part of the carbon reduction commitment, the Environment Agency will publish publicly accessible league tables of participants performance at the end of each year.
In addition to the published league table positions for organisations within the carbon reduction commitment, the scheme will also publish the responses to three questions:
1. Does your organisation disclose long-term carbon emission reduction targets?
2. Does your organisation disclose carbon emissions performance against these targets?
3. Do you have a named director with responsibility for overseeing carbon performance?
These questions are designed to indicate if participants are actively attempting to reduce their carbon emissions.
As the growth metric is based on the percentage change based on production unit turnover, it may not always be possible to identify a measurable unit of production. In these circumstances, the growth metric will be based on emissions per unit of revenue.
Where the growth metric is based on revenue, the measurement will apply to the organisation's total revenue, rather than just the area covered by the measured energy consumption.
If an organisation changes its structure or operations, the information will not be updated in the CRC until the start of the second phase.
If an organisation significantly reduces consumption as a result of ceasing operations in some areas of their business, they will be able to benefit from this reduction in the CRC league table.