Carbon footprint implications for commercial property

The Carbon Footprint and the new CRC scheme – what are the implications for commercial property?

Occupier Solution Specialist Portal has recently commissioned an independent white paper on the latest carbon footprint legislation and its impact for commercial property. UK Managing Director John Gotley summarises the key issues discussed in the paper below.

Legislation is already in place and is being further developed at national, EU and global levels to reduce carbon emissions from commercial property. At the same time, sustainable energy sources are being developed and carbon offsetting schemes are increasing in order to mitigate the environmental impact.

According to The Carbon Trust, the biggest contributer of a business’s emissions come from its building but argue that cutting emissions will also cut costs for individual businesses. To incentivise companies, the CRC scheme provides large companies a six month window to register and start reducing their emissions. It is anticipated that the scheme will apply to over 20,000 commercial properties in the UK.