London - 8th October, 2009 - CB Richard Ellis’ Director of Energy and Sustainability Consulting, Darren Berman, commented on the Government’s announcement of the final details of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC).

“The Government remains committed to pressing ahead with the Carbon Reduction Commitment, albeit with a number of significant changes,” Darren said.

“Most prominent is that the cash flow implications associated with the scheme will now be reduced as participants will only be required to purchase one year’s worth of carbon allowances in 2011, rather than two year’s worth as was proposed in the Draft Order.”

“Another notable change the Government proposes to the Draft Order includes providing companies with the flexibility for large, qualifying subsidiaries to participate in the CRC separately, rather than requiring subsidiaries to participate as a single group. This provides greater flexibility for organisations to ensure individual subsidiaries have greater incentives to affect changes in their carbon emissions.“

“A further change is that early actions (adopting an energy efficiency accreditation scheme and installing AMR, or ‘Smart’, meters) will now deliver a slightly greater impact on participants’ performance.”

“Whilst the Carbon Reduction Commitment presents significant challenges for industry, and for a number of sectors in particular (such as growing data centre providers and certain landlords) it does form a key part of the UK’s strategy for delivering the carbon savings that are so vital for tackling climate change and for the UK’s competitiveness. CBRE welcomes the Government’s continued commitment to implementing the Carbon Reduction Commitment.”