IT ill prepared for new set of carbon rules
IT departments and their managers need to ensure that they are prepared for the introduction of a forthcoming carbon cap and trade scheme experts have warned.
Part of the Carbon Reduction Commitment which is detailed in the government’s 2007 Energy White Paper, the carbon cap is one of the tools by which the government aims too reduce UK CO2 emissions by 1.2m tonnes by the year 2020.
As part of its strategy to achieve this ambitious aim, the government is targeting organisations which have a high electrical consumption - over 5,000 KW of electricity a year. It is estimated that this comprises around 10% of the UK’s businesses.
Those organisations are expected to have carbon reporting processes in place by 2010 – much of the responsibility for that will fall on IT.
And Richard Kellett, head of solutions and technology marketing at business intelligence firm SAS, said organisations need to start applying the technology needed for the scheme now in order to be properly prepared.
It is tempting to aim to meet the basic requirements of legislation, he explained, but this can mean business leaders become blind to opportunities to improve business processes. “This type of approach is extremely short sighted, and puts you in a constant game of catch up.”
Business leaders may come unstuck unless IT is proactive in preparing for the introduction of carbon reporting, warned Jes Seymour at consultancy company IT Insight. “IT departments have a tendency to trip over when they do things in a rush,” he said.
Derrick Cameron of Luton based IT firm Eximium warns that “The biggest risk is that IT departments could underestimate the scale of process changes that carbon reporting could introduce. Although it might seem a simple enough idea to introduce, the scheme may mean changes to older systems and mean significant overhauls.”
Under the government proposals, organisations will be given a three-year period of grace in order to establish adequate carbon reporting processes. Businesses that fail to comply by April 2013 face being fined.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Business Advice, IT Advice, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
