The BPIF says the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has listened to its arguments and reduced the target requirements for the new climate change agreements scheme due to start in January.
The New Climate Change Agreements (CCA's) will allow printing companies to claim up to a 90% reduction from their Climate Change Levy on electricity and 65% on gas. New joiners will be able to take advantage of the scheme from next April (or later depending on the number of applicants received) and with the levy being increased every year, the earlier a sites joins the earlier it will start saving.
In return for the levy reduction sites are required to commit to improvements in energy efficiency, over the life of the scheme, which ends in 2020. DECC had originally proposed a 12% improvement in energy efficiency, which the BPIF felt was unrealistic, particularly in the present climate.
Steve Walker, the BPIF's climate change levy manager shorter run lengths and more bespoke requirements had made greater energy efficiency more difficult to achieve. He added that the increasing move to digital production, with its requirements for air conditioning also hampered the drive towards using less energy. “It is therefore vital that the industry has a target it has a chance of achieving.”