The
Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC-EES) could be a key factor in helping to drive down business energy use for the future.
Don Jordison, managing director at institutional investment solutions provider Threadneedle, explains that new legislation is likely to allow commercial buildings to be designed or refurbished to high levels of energy efficiency.
He adds that this represents a step forward from a situation where it may have been unclear to some property owners what a suitable target for sustainability might be.
"They have had no benchmarks or standards against which to measure themselves," says Mr Jordison.
"Particularly for occupiers, now the CRC will be producing a benchmark and a league table of usage that for the first time means people know what they are shooting at."
He notes that, prior to this, many operators and tenants alike have been isolated in their attempts to reduce business energy usage, even though a widespread desire to do so has been apparent.
Mr Jordison recommends that businesses should consider their energy usage to be a variable cost that can be tackled as part of budgeting measures, rather than as a fixed expenditure that must be met.
In this way, reducing business energy consumption could allow them to not only enhance their environmental profile, but also to lower the running costs of their organisation.
The current economic circumstances mean that these two aims have converged in recent months, according to Mr Jordison.
He observes "a parallel" between the energy-saving aspirations of legislators and the need to cut business expenditure faced by companies as they attempt to weather the recession.
While some new regulations can cause turbulence - due, for example, to legal disputes that may arise following their introduction - he concludes that legislation relating to landlords and property has been taken on board by professionals within the sector on a number of occasions over the years without too much difficulty.
