The Environment Agency has approved the Carbon Saver Standard as a Carbon Trust equivalent scheme. This means it counts towards the CRC Early Action Metric, which rewards organisations who voluntarily take steps to better manage their energy use before joining CRC.

Alongside CEMARS and Kitemark, the Carbon Saver Standard gives CRC participants an alternative route for gaining credit for earlier efforts to cut carbon.

The Environment Agency's CRC Project Executive Andrew Hitchings said:

"We are pleased to announce the Carbon Saver Standard as a Carbon Trust Standard equivalent scheme under the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. The Carbon Trust standard and equivalent schemes allow organisations who are leading the way in environmental management to be rewarded for their early action.

"CRC is an opportunity for organisations to show what they have already achieved in reducing emissions through early action and provides an incentive to achieve the further reductions which are necessary in the future."

Glenn Wilkinson, Managing Director of Carbon Saver said:

"We are delighted to be approved as the fourth standard which qualifies as an early action metric for the CRC. There is now a real choice for organisations in the market for approved carbon accreditation schemes."

Thousands of businesses yet to register

With the deadline to register for the Scheme by 30 September fast approaching, earlier this month Greg Barker Greg Barker, Energy and Climate Change Minister called on thousands of businesses to register. Currently only 1229 of the organisations required to register have done so – considerably short of the 3,000 to 4,000 organisations the Environment Agency believes will be required to join the CRC.

There is a similar shortfall in the number of organisations thought to be legally obliged to register as information declarers, with only 4,500 out of a potential 15,000 registered to date.

Last week the Agency wrote to organisations covered by the Scheme urging them to register even if that meant providing incomplete or inaccurate data – leading to accusations that accepting “flawed” data would undermine the credibility of the CRC.

Organisations that miss the deadline for registration could face an initial fine of £5,000 and additional fines of £500 for each day they fail to register up to a maximum of £45,000.

If they continue to fail to comply, organisations will be named and included at the bottom of the CRC scheme annual league table setting out participant energy efficiency performance.