Commercial property that meets modern environmental standards could be in high demand after the CBI, the UK’s top business lobbying organisation, proposed reforms to the existing carbon reporting standards.
According to the CBI, companies often waste lots of time dealing with separate regulations that cover the same ground. As a result, it believes scrapping these rules and replacing them with a uniform and much simpler system could be more beneficial. This could also help encourage businesses to make their commercial properties more energy efficient, or purchase more eco-friendly buildings when they are thinking of expanding their operations.
Rhian Kelly, the CBI’s director for business environment, went on to back the idea of making carbon reporting mandatory for companies in the UK. This, she stated, could be a ‘great way of making boardrooms aware of the savings possible through energy efficiency.’
To be effective, it is important that the Government phases in the introduction of mandatory reporting and makes the process simple for companies to follow. Rhian Kelly, went on to say: ‘Given that many companies already report their emissions under other schemes, the Government should get rid of overlapping regulations so firms don’t end up getting bogged down reporting for a variety of different schemes.’
In order to comply with the 2008 Climate Change Act, the Government must make a decision on whether to introduce mandatory carbon reporting by April 2012.
The CBI’s position is that, if the Government goes ahead with mandatory reporting, it should scrap the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) performance league table, which has lost impact and merely imposes unnecessary doubling of administrative effort.
Rhian Kelly, continued to state: ‘We also need to ensure any reporting done for a company in the UK can slot in to the work they are doing globally. To disaggregate international data would introduce cost and complication that will only succeed in turning companies off. Government must look to make business action as easy as possible by making compliance quick and painless. By doing so, we are not ignoring the upfront cost, but we believe there are significant savings to be made in the long-run if the government gets this right.’
Ms Kelly was speaking after the CBI downgraded its economic growth predictions for 2011 to 1.7%, down from 1.8%.
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