IT leaders blind to carbon legislation

Awareness of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) energy efficiency scheme among IT leaders is near zero according to datacentre power efficiency specialists, despite the looming registration deadline and threat of large fines for companies that fail to comply.

The CRC became law this April and the deadline for registration is 30 September.

The legislation applies to all organisations – private and public sector – that consume over 6,000MWh of electricity a year (equivalent to an annual bill of around £500,000) and are not included in the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). Companies with large in-house datacentres and extensive PC estates are likely to fall into this category.

Any applicable business that misses the deadline faces an initial £5,000 fine and a daily charge of £500 until registered up to a maximum of £45,000.

Only about a quarter of the 15,000 UK organisations likely to be included in the scheme have registered with the Department of the Environment so far, resulting in calls from energy minister Greg Barker for businesses to register now.

If business in general is being slow to wake up to the CRC, chief information officers are still sound asleep, according to anecdotal evidence from consultancies, analysts and energy companies, despite the fact that the power consumption of IT systems has become a hot topic over the last five years.

Tony Fisher, managing director of consultancy Greenocity, said: "This lack of IT awareness is shocking. Organisations will miss vital opportunities to reduce their energy bills and CO2 emissions."

Technologies such as datacentre virtualisation and consolidation, PC estate power management and cloud computing are all touted for their energy efficiency benefits. The aim of the CRC is to take emission reduction beyond a nice-to-have and make it a legal requirement for large organisations that fall outside the EU ETS.

Allowances granted under the CRC mean there is much to be gained financially from taking the scheme seriously. PricewaterhouseCoopers found poor performing businesses with energy bills of £1m could pay costs of up to £500,000 over five years. However, business with the same-sized bill could reduce its energy costs by 8 per cent equating to £85,000 in savings in a year, and £150,000 over five years.

Furthermore, there is considerable reputational advantage to be gained from the scheme: as of next year, league tables will be published based on the emission reduction performance of registered organisations.