Catch the wind?
Written by Dave Key   
Monday, 23 November 2009 00:00

I recently attended a meeting with a large organisation who, obsessed with meeting their Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) targets, were simply externalising emissions from their areas of responsibility.

Closing a regional office or production facility for example, gives a quick reduction to their overall GHG balance sheet. But externalising the problem means that employees and customers have to travel (typically by car) much greater distances to get to work or visit.

The responsibility is neatly passed on, while the net emissions stays the same or increase!

This is a classic case of rules with good intentions producing the opposite effect. Potentially the UK's Carbon Reduction Commitment could meet its targets purely by organisations externalising emissions in this way - while total emissions rise.

You can't fix the system by tinkering with just a few parts of it. How can this process of externalisation be countered?

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