The Carbon Trust Standard essentially requires an organisation to calculate its carbon footprint (including transport), demonstrate absolute or relative reduction in carbon emissions by more than 2.5 percent per year, and demonstrate good carbon management.

The government has proposed that state-funded schools (including academies) within Great Britain, will participate within the carbon reduction commitment scheme under the umbrella of their local authority. In doing so, it is the carbon footprint of the local authority that will be legally and financially responsible for participation in the carbon reduction commitment scheme, rather than the individual schools.

It is also the local authority that will be positioned within the carbon reduction commitment, rather than the individual schools.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment's 90 percent emissions rule, otherwse known as the 'flexible de minimis' rule, requires all particpants to account for at least 90% of their total carbon footprint emissions. The 90% rule aims to focus attention on the largest, and most cost effective, opportunities to reduce carbon emissions.

The 90% emissions rule can include all energy reported through the Climate Change Agreement, European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, as well as all 'Core Sources' of non-transport energy consumption.

whilst the carbon reduction commitments does not officially start until April 2010, there is still a large amount of work that many organisations may have to do prior to that date.

Identify organisational structure

Whilst qualification for the Carbon Reduction Commitment determined by electricity use, it aims to capture all non-transport energy consumption. As a result, if you're in the Carbon Reduction Scheme, you will be required to report on electricity, gas, oil, diesel etc.

Core sources in the CRC includes all half hourly metered electricity, profile class 5 to 8 electricity, daily metered gas and non-daily metered gas over 73,200kWh per annum.

The the carbon reduction commitment will use a cap and trade scheme will enable companies to

Companies will have to start buying carbon allowances to cover their carbon emissions, and that will involve measuring and recording energy use and calculating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (not including transport emissions).

The revenue generated from carbon auctions will be redistributed between the scheme’s participants. Each company will receive a larger or smaller amount than they originally paid for their carbon allowance, according to their performance in the CRC league table.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment (recently renamed the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme) has now officially started, and is the UK's first mandatory carbon trading scheme. The initial phase of the CRC is compulsory for organisations that consumed over 6,000 MWh (6,000,000 kWh) of half-hourly metered electricity during the period from January 2008 to December 2008. At today's prices, this is roughly equivalent to total half hourly electricity bills of approximately £500,000 per year.