Regulation and policy...

UK: Carbon Reduction Commitment

UK readers only: DEFRA's authoritative guide to the Carbon Reduction Commitment which is a legally-binding carbon trading scheme affecting 5,000 or so medium to large UK users.

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Europe: BS EN 16001: a management-systems standard for energy management

This new management-systems standard will replace the national standards already in use in Ireland, Sweden and Denmark and create a template that organisations in other states can also sign up to. Published 1 July 2009: more details on the BSi Group web site.

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International: "Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis"

This is the summary of the fourth assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the scientific authority on the subject). Published in February 2007 with the full body of the report to follow.

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Stern Review

Read the summary of this October 2006 report commissioned by the UK government. It is the first major review to evaluate the costs of climate change and to relate economic data to it; by all accounts it has been internationally influential.

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EU: An Energy Policy for Europe

Proposed by the coomission in January 2007 and agreed by the Council of Ministers in March 2007. Significant recommendations relating to a low-carbon economy are:

• 20% of energy generation from renewables by 2020.
• Biofuels for transport to be 10% by 2020.
• Energy efficiency: 20% reduction in demand by 2020 relative to 1990 (cf Kyoto 8% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions).

There are also recommendations relating to the commercial separation of generation and distribution network services, but these could be counterproductive if they lead to lower prices.

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