Many firms will have to recalculate their carbon footprint after the government today announced a major crackdown to stop customers automatically rating energy purchased under green energy tariffs as carbon-neutral. Demand for green energy tariffs has soared in recent years as firms seek to shrink their carbon footprint. However, the environmental benefits of different green tariffs vary enormously, and some corporate customers are likely to be making lower carbon savings than they expect. For example, some green tariffs simply sell – often at a higher price than standard tariffs – the renewable energy that suppliers already have to produce under the government's Renewables Obligation mechanism. Others rely heavily on carbon offset schemes instead of sourcing the energy from renewable sources.
But environment secretary Hilary Benn said today that the government had changed its guidelines on carbon reporting to stop firms automatically claiming that by signing up to a green tariff they have zero energy-related emissions. "For the reporting year 2008/09, best practice is expected to be for businesses to use a grid average rate – the average rate of carbon emissions associated with electricity transmitted on the National Grid – unless their supplier can prove the carbon benefits are additional [to what is required from them under the Renewables Obligation]," Benn said. "This is to reflect the existing evidence that the additional carbon benefit of green tariffs is not transparent."
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