Following the third government consultation on the CRC scheme in the summer of 2009, the Government has now published their responses to the consultation and have since altered some aspects of the scheme.  Here follows the most important changes which could affect your company.

The most important changes to the CRC  policy as a result of the consultation include:

 Cash flow
 The first sale of allowances in April 2011 will now only require participants to purchase
 allowances for the year ahead and no longer for the previous year as well. This comes after
 stakeholder concern regarding the impact of a double sale on their cash flow. As a result, the
 first year of the Introductory Phase will therefore become a monitoring period.

 Principal Subsidiaries
 Large subsidiaries that would qualify in their own right can now choose whether to
 disaggregate themselves from their organisational group and participate independently. To
 reflect these changes, Principal Subsidiaries are now referred to as Significant Group
 Undertakings.

Early Action Metric
 Organisations which have demonstrated commitment to reducing their emissions either by
 achieving the Carbon Trust Standard, or accreditation from an equivalent scheme can use
 this to be counted towards the Early Action metric. The relative weighting of this metric in the
 overall performance score, compared to the Absolute reduction and Growth metrics, will be
 reduced more gradually to better recognise early action taken, from 100% in the first year,
 40% in the second year and 20% in the third year.

 Treatment of renewables
 The CRC will treat electricity which receives a Feed In Tariff in the same way as electricity
 which is issued a Renewable Obligation Certificate, and has simplified the approach to
 reporting and accounting for renewably generated electricity. As an energy efficiency
 mechanism, CRC  will not provide additional incentives for renewable generation. We will,
 however, publish alongside the performance league table, the organisations increase in
 onsite renewable generation together with energy efficiency savings. This will allow
 organisations to gain reputational credit for their investment in onsite renewables.

 Public Sector Organisations
 The definition of a public sector organisation has been simplified to create better clarity for
 participants in the CRC. Organisations designated as a „public authority‟ in the Freedom of
 Information Act 2000 and the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 will participate in
 CRC  on the basis of their individual FOI/FOI (S) listing, unless they are legally part of
 another body, in which case they would participate as part of that parent body.
 CRC  qualification pack mailing exercise

 Qualification and registration guidance for potential CRC participants (“Qualification Pack”)
 will be published at the end of October. This set of guidance includes the following
 documents:

• Am I in? A guide for qualification and organisation structure;
• Register as a CRC  Participant; and
• Making an Information Disclosure

These guidance documents will be available on regulators‟ websites. For ease, the
 Environment Agency website is at: www.environment-agency.gov.uk/crc

 The Environment Agency is the Administrator for the CRC  throughout the UK, and will also
 be the scheme regulator in England and Wales. The Department of the Environment for
 Northern Ireland and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency are the other regulators.

 When the guidance is published, the Environment Agency will write to all potential participant organisation addresses with information on how to access the guidance. It will not mail the guidance itself to avoid organisations receiving parts of the guidance which may not be relevant to them, and to reduce paper waste.

The CRC regulators decided to release this guidance after the Government issued its
 response to the consultation so that organisations receive complete and accurate
 information that would not be subject to change. In the interim, to help organisations prepare
 for the CRC, a number of CRC Brief Guidance documents have been created. These
 include:

• Early Action Metric
• Automatic Meter Reading
• Making an Information Disclosure

 You can find these documents at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/crc.

 In May this year, a letter was sent to all Half Hourly Meter billing addresses introducing the
 CRC  scheme and its obligations. The Environment Agency has now amended its database,
 and where possible, grouped together billing addresses that fall under the same company
 name. This should help to prevent organisations receiving duplicate letters. If your
 organisation receives more than one letter in the October mailing, you can contact the UK
 CRC  helpline so that we can update your details.

 CRCHelp@environment-agency.gov.uk