It Pays to Cut Carbon Emissions

One of Britain's major utilities, National Grid, is introducing carbon budgets across all its UK and US electricity and gas operations from 1 April 2009 and integrating emissions into its performance management alongside customer service, reliability, safety and financial key performance indicators.

National Grid's Head of Climate Change and Corporate Responsibility, Joe Kwasnik, said; We believe National Grid is one of the first companies in the world to align company-wide emissions with performance management. Our new interim emissions reduction target of 45 per cent by 2020 - which goes further than the European Union's potential 30% reduction commitment by 2020 - will provide a more relevant milestone for our business planning process and ensure emissions management is integrated into every aspect of our operational decision-making.

The company is also calling for calling for a national Masterplan to be developed, with Government, industry and consumer collaboration to determine the route-map for a low-carbon economy. This is essential to meet the Government targets of 80 per cent emissions reduction by 2050, and 15 per cent renewable energy sources by 2020.

National Grid Chief Executive, Steve Holliday, said; Despite the challenging economic conditions, we must not take our eye off the ball in tackling climate change. The clock is ticking away, and action must be taken now.

This joined-up approach is essential to get the right legislative and regulatory frameworks in place and ensure necessary infrastructure investment is available in a timely manner for the connection of new renewable sources of electricity generation, and development of technologies such as biogas production, and linking smart meters into smart grids.

However, electricity is not the full story. Heat and transport must also play their part. These are all areas where policy is still to be developed and new technology needs to be fostered. That is why we need a Masterplan.

National Grid is already taking an energy and cliate change leadership role. It has developed scenarios to determine the projected energy mix required to meet Government's 2020 climate change and renewable sources targets. It is investing around 3 billion a year in its electricity and gas networks - approximately three quarters of this investment in the UK - and focusing on new technologies to enhance energy efficiency across its networks.