Choosing a Genuine Carbon Trading Scheme
Emissions trading, also known as carbon trading is widely touted as one of the best ways of fighting climate change, with business bosses and politicians alike singing its praises.
The basic idea is simple - make firms pay for their carbon emissions and, for the first time, they will have a financial incentive for factoring in targets to reduce them into their overall business strategy.
In the UK, The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Efficiency Scheme is a compulsory programme aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions in bigger organisations which use most energy and cause a tenth of Britain's emissions.
The scheme features a range of reputational, behavioural and financial elements, designed to encourage organisations to devise energy management strategies showing a greater understanding of energy use.
As part of the programme, an annual performance league table showing participants' energy efficiency is published.
The scheme is designed to tackle COČ emissions not already covered by Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) and the EU's own scheme.
Participants include supermarkets, water companies, banks, local authorities and central government departments. Those qualifying organisations which do not comply with the scheme face financial and other penalties.
There are two categories of carbon credits: voluntary emission reductions (VERs) and certified emission reductions (CERs).
VERs involve the offset or reduction of carbon in any way, such as through a forestry scheme or solar panel project. Governments and large corporate entities typically trade in CERs certificates.
Unfortunately, there have been reports and complaints in recent months of cold-callers claiming to trade in carbon credits whose schemes are not genuine.
Bear in mind that just because the salesperson mentions the Kyoto Protocol or 'government-backed' plans, that does not necessarily tell you about the type of carbon credit you are investing in.
Look for a scheme authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The FSA does not regulate the sale or trading of carbon credits, but it does regulate collective investment schemes (CIS), and a firm must be authorised by them to promote or operate such schemes in the UK.
The FSA can take action over a carbon credit trading scheme which is being promoted or run as a CIS contract without proper authorisation, so check to see whether what you are dealing with is a CIS. (There's more information about this online).
If you are concerned about a scheme offering carbon credits, stop sending money to the firm involved immediately. If you have given them your bank account details, inform your bank straight away.
Whether you are running a company providing office space London, a chain of hotels or an energy firm, emissions trading could do a lot for your business, and you could sign up to a scheme even if you are not legally obliged to.
Just make sure you take steps to ensure that the scheme you are being offered is not bogus, but one of the genuine majority.
The basic idea is simple - make firms pay for their carbon emissions and, for the first time, they will have a financial incentive for factoring in targets to reduce them into their overall business strategy.
In the UK, The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Efficiency Scheme is a compulsory programme aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions in bigger organisations which use most energy and cause a tenth of Britain's emissions.
The scheme features a range of reputational, behavioural and financial elements, designed to encourage organisations to devise energy management strategies showing a greater understanding of energy use.
As part of the programme, an annual performance league table showing participants' energy efficiency is published.
The scheme is designed to tackle COČ emissions not already covered by Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) and the EU's own scheme.
Participants include supermarkets, water companies, banks, local authorities and central government departments. Those qualifying organisations which do not comply with the scheme face financial and other penalties.
There are two categories of carbon credits: voluntary emission reductions (VERs) and certified emission reductions (CERs).
VERs involve the offset or reduction of carbon in any way, such as through a forestry scheme or solar panel project. Governments and large corporate entities typically trade in CERs certificates.
Unfortunately, there have been reports and complaints in recent months of cold-callers claiming to trade in carbon credits whose schemes are not genuine.
Bear in mind that just because the salesperson mentions the Kyoto Protocol or 'government-backed' plans, that does not necessarily tell you about the type of carbon credit you are investing in.
Look for a scheme authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The FSA does not regulate the sale or trading of carbon credits, but it does regulate collective investment schemes (CIS), and a firm must be authorised by them to promote or operate such schemes in the UK.
The FSA can take action over a carbon credit trading scheme which is being promoted or run as a CIS contract without proper authorisation, so check to see whether what you are dealing with is a CIS. (There's more information about this online).
If you are concerned about a scheme offering carbon credits, stop sending money to the firm involved immediately. If you have given them your bank account details, inform your bank straight away.
Whether you are running a company providing office space London, a chain of hotels or an energy firm, emissions trading could do a lot for your business, and you could sign up to a scheme even if you are not legally obliged to.
Just make sure you take steps to ensure that the scheme you are being offered is not bogus, but one of the genuine majority.
