So another voice has been added to the many that are calling for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme to be simplified. However, this is not just any voice, but the influential voice of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). Its report published today, echoes what various groups, including EEF, have been saying for sometime now, that the scheme is "very complex". The first casualty could be the intended ‘cap and trade’ element, which the CCC recommends should be scrapped. This is music to my ears, as I believe this part of CRC will merely add unnecessary costs and complexity burden onto businesses without significant reductions of carbon emissions. Indeed increased costs to manufacturing companies that are still struggling out of a deep recession.

Government must not under estimate the importance of combining a carbon tax with Greenhouse Gas reporting, in driving change within organisations. There should be a greater focus on the reporting element of the scheme, centred on Defra’s carbon reporting guidelines, published last year. This should not be a wasted opportunity for Defra to promote a uniformed reporting methodology across sectors.

The CCC calls for a splitting the League Table into public and private sectors. Of course this is a step in the right direction, but doesn’t go far enough. The government must enable companies to highlight the positive steps they are taking to reduce emissions. This good news narrative must be positioned at the forefront of the table, rather than a focus on absolute emissions. The current narrow focus of the League Table will lead to false results and will not acted as a driver for organisations to become more carbon efficient throughout their operations.

A simple change that government must make as soon as possible, one that would reduce the administrative burden significantly, would be to remove the requirement for organisations not caught by the scheme, to positively prove that they are exempt.

This is certainly one to keep watching and I am pleased to see that the voice of manufacturing is being heard within this debate in today’s Telegraph.

Are you interested in promoting your company at a Department for Business (BIS) low carbon exhibition?

BIS is holding an exhibition at its headquarters in London to promote low carbon products from UK manufacturing companies. The exhibition runs from 11th - 22nd October. Unfortunately, there is a short deadline of informing BIS that you are interested in exhibiting, which is Monday.

If you are interested, please contact Tony Mills at BIS on 020 7215 4729 tony.mills@bis.gsi.gov.uk

Further details of this opportunity from BIS are below:

An exhibition of cutting edge products has been unveiled by Business Minister Mark Prisk at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to encourage a new generation of innovators.

The Government is committed to promoting manufacturing as it is critical to economic growth with responsibility for 53 per cent of UK exports and 2.8 million jobs.

With new business opportunities, such as low carbon products, emerging all the time BIS wants to work with the manufacturing industry to encourage new talent and attract new businesses to the sector.

The exhibition is the first in a planned rolling programme of themed displays demonstrating excellence in British design, engineering and manufacturing.

Business Minister Mark Prisk said:

“Britain is a world leader in manufacturing but if we are to inspire future generations we must do all we can to promote UK excellence.

"As a signal of our intent we have invited shining examples of British design, engineering and manufacture to showcase their products at the department.

To help illustrate the theme the exhibits will be displayed so that visitors from the business community can follow the supply chain through the displays in the main reception and lift lobby areas.

This exhibition will also help to raise awareness of manufacturing in the build up to the launch of a new manufacturing framework in the autumn which will detail specific plans for encouraging growth in this sector.

Resource efficiency is quite simply a win-win approach, with benefits for both business and the environment.  It is for this reason that WRAP is relaunching their highly successful Rethink Waste campaign from September-November.  And it is why EEF is continuing its long-standing relationship with WRAP to deliver this campaign to as many manufacturers as possible. 

But don’t delay!  You have until Tuesday (September 28^th) to sign up for this free initiative from WRAP to help improve your resource efficiency and save money.

Last years campaign connected with over 1500 manufactures of all sizes and sectors within the UK, helping to implement no-cost or low-cost measures which enhanced profits by the equivalent of 1% of turnover and in some cases as much as 3%.  With such an overwhelming business case to take action we hope to realise savings for an even greater number of manufacturers this year.

The best thing about the Rethink Waste Campaign, besides being free, is that it provides a simple structured approach to resource efficiency, helping businesses to: Understand how much waste they produce; understand the total cost of waste; identify simple ways to start reducing waste, and save money; and, measure the waste and cost savings made.

The course is delivered in a three-staged format through September-November, and is packed with advice on developing a methodical step-by-step approach to reducing waste within business.  The modules are also supported with a variety of information, from PowerPoint presentations, a virtual tour of business premises, an advice line, guides, and video case studies.

With so much attention on climate change one might think that waste is a secondary environmental issue for manufacturers – That is simply not the case.  EEF’s Environment Survey 2008, and 2009, both cited waste as the priority environmental issue for manufacturers.

Rethink Waste, therefore, provides an excellent opportunity for manufacturers to realise potentially significant financial and environmental benefits for their organisation.  By capitalising on what is an already established and successful resource efficiency programme, with engagement from industry experts and fellow peers, the experience should prove only positive. 

Climate change has taken a battering this year due to the email scandal surrounding the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit and the somewhat iffy data sources used by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

A report from Cardiff University in June illustrated that attitudes to climate change had changed. The report showed 78 percent of the 1,822 people surveyed thought the world's climate was changing compared to 91 percent in 2005, while 40 percent of people thought the seriousness of climate change was exaggerated. And less than a third believed climate change was purely a result of human activity.

In an attempt, no doubt, to stem the conversion of climate believers-climate sceptics the government has launched a new website which explains the science behind the headlines on climate change.  The website was launched by Government Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Sir John Beddington.

The website presents an overview of some of the most important areas of study in climate science, to help anyone wishing to get beyond the day-to-day headlines to gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental scientific issues involved.

For those uncertain about the state of scientific knowledge, the web resource attempts to explain both where evidence is well established and where findings and projections remain subject to greater uncertainty.  I would welcome your comments on whether the website achieves these objectives and if it has changed your attitude towards climate change.

The government is keen to now move away from the furore which dominated the climate change agenda earlier this year and back to the task of furthering domestic and international action.  Climate change remains a priority issue for the coalition and it wants to be seen as a leader on the world stage. 

Speaking to civil servants at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, having only been in office a few days, David Cameron pledged that his coalition party would “be the greenest government ever”.

He also went on to reassure civil servants that the environment was a top priority for him. "There is a fourth minister in this department who cares passionately about this agenda and that is me, the prime minister, right. I mean that from the bottom of my heart."

We had a meeting this week with Gregory Barker, the Minister of State for Climate Change within DECC. It was a refreshing meeting and a welcome change from the last administration. I am coming round to believing my earlier view that this government seems to accept that the climate change policy landscape is crowded, confused and overlapping. This is something that we highlighted in our recent report on UK climate change policy. The report called on the coalition government to reduce the burden of climate change policy by simplifying the mismatch landscape that has grown over the last ten years.

Simplification was high on the Minister’s agenda and in line with the recommendations set out in our report. Again in line with the EEF position, the Minister was receptive to the concerns of manufacturers on competitiveness and carbon leakage. There was a real acceptance that industry, even carbon intensive industry, is vital to the UK economy and particularly to the emerging low carbon manufacturing sector.

However, all my positive views might change come 20 October, when government publishes its Comprehensive Spending Review and with it, detailed climate change policy intension. Of importance will be how it intends to reform the Climate Change Levy into a potential carbon tax. During our meeting with Gregory Barker, we were at pains to point out that although we support moves for a carbon tax, we do not wish to see an increase in the overall climate change policy cost burden to manufacturers resulting from such a move.

Finally, the Minister stated he wanted his department to work closely with industry rather than at length, via consultations. The test here will be whether government consults with us ahead of any formal announcement in October. I know that we would be keen to work with his department on how to change the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme into something more workable and business friendly. This will be high on the agenda when we meet with DECC later today.

With just days to go until the registration deadline for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) at the end of September, Gregory Barker, the climate change minister is calling for radical reform of this much maligned scheme.

This is welcome news, that the new government can plainly see the scheme is far too complex and costly and Gregory Barker is bold enough to consider making significant changes in order to achieve the aims of the scheme, but with much less burden on firms, as they continue to recover from the recession.

I hear from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), that the whole scheme is up for review, but there may be a particular focus on simplifying the way in which an organisation defines itself and making it easier for those organisations to opt out of the scheme, if some of their sites are caught by other climate change legislation.

Another simple change the minister should consider is not requiring firms that aren’t even in the scheme to pay nearly a thousand pounds, just to confirm this. That is without the administrative burden that this un-necessary task imposes on those organisations.

If this is the way that DECC is moving, then perhaps we are closer now to a climate change policy landscape that is cost effective, that aims to achieve realistic goals at least cost and does not undermine the competitiveness of UK/EU manufacturing sectors. Something that EEF has been calling for and I hope that now, something that government is alive to.