The subject of climate change was thrust back into the news on 16 July 2008 when Minister Hilary Benn provided an update on the Carbon Reduction Commitment, indicating that the government has now decided that schools should be included. This will have the effect of drawing far more local authorities into the scheme than had previously been thought. However, it is not clear how the scheme will work in the delicate balance between the local authority and individual schools.
The Carbon Reduction Commitment was originally included in the Energy White Paper of May 2007 (Meeting the Energy Challenge). This indicated that legally binding carbon targets for the whole UK economy would be introduced. The mechanism to do this is the Climate Change Bill which is still currently before Parliament and which will see the UK commit to a 60% reduction in emissions by 2050. The Carbon Reduction Commitment programme will cover public bodies and private sector companies of a certain size (6,000 Mw/h, or where a yearly energy bill of £500,000 applies.) It was always recognised that the larger local authorities would be included, but thought that many of the smaller ones would escape the provisions, which come into law in 2010.
The way the scheme works is that each body covered by the CRC will have a baseline emissions level, set in a certain year. It will then be given a baseline allocation, or in other words a target to reduce emissions to below the baseline on a progressive basis. Baseline allocations will reduce over time.
Where the trading comes in is that local authorities who do not hit their targets in relation to CRC will be required to buy more permits from another organisation that came in below its target. By the same token, local authorities that drop below their targets can sell the extra credits that they do not need.
When the scheme was first mooted, it was proposed that schools would not be included. However, the government indicated it would give further consideration to this and make a subsequent announcement. On 16 July 2008 Hilary Benn made a statement in Parliament indicating that "respondents to the consultation highlighted the wide potential for energy efficiency in schools and so urged us to require local authorities to include schools as part of their estate for the purposes of CRC, rather than taking the voluntary approach we proposed." The government had taken this on board and, whilst not requiring schools to participate directly in emissions trading, their position will be included as part of the relevant local authority.
Hilary Benn mentions the fact that this will give schools the opportunity to involve children in delivering energy efficiency improvements and the ability to use climate change as part of the curriculum. What does not appear to have been worked out yet, is exactly how schools will be included under their respective local authorities.
It is said that schools will have to report annual energy use data to their parent local authority and that will form part of the calculation against the baseline allocation. The sensitivity may come, however, with a local authority that wants to force a school to adopt a certain environmental approach or a school that achieves excellent environmental standards but does not feel that the benefits of those under the CRC are being passed back to them by the local authority.
It is certainly unclear how a local authority could force a school to make environmental improvements, in the era of delegated budgets and more autonomy. As the necessity to comply with these targets will become much more of an issue over time, this could cause tension between council and school.
Equally, if a local authority is coming in below its baseline allocation, then it will effect benefit financially from the ability to sell credits under the Carbon Trading Scheme. If these gains are directly referable to progress in schools, then schools may feel it is unfair that the financial benefits go back to the local authority, which would be under no duty to pass them on to the schools concerned.
There certainly seems to be a need to work out the detail of this proposal to ensure that local authorities and schools work together in partnership, for mutual benefit, as well as enjoying the wider benefit to the community.
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