Proving your committment
July 18th 2006

The Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme is the UK's only independent awardrecognising achievements in reducing energy use by leading organisations in industry,commerce and the public sector. It is managed by the National Energy Foundation (NEF)on behalf of the Carbon Trust

It enables achievement in the managementand use of energy to be tangibly recognised,through an award from the leadingprofessional body, the Energy Institute.Accreditation is achieved by meeting setstandards that are independently assessed andmoderated.

Over two hundred leading organisations in business,industry and the public sector have gainedaccreditation. They have done so by demonstrating:

• Management commitment to energy efficiency
• Investment, both actual and planned in energyefficiency measures
• A record or progressive improvement inenergy efficiency.

Carole Redman IBMEnvironmental AffairsSpecialist UK, Ireland andSouth Africa believes that"becoming an accreditedmember of the EEAS hasbeen a positive stepforward, not only insecuring greater awarenessof our energy programmeswithin the company but inproviding a sound benchmark.The independent assessment isrigorous and doesn't allow forcomplacency; if we are doing well it's alwaysgood to be told so, if our focus slips then it's a timelyreminder to increase our efforts."

Tim Lunel, Chief Executive at NEF believes that thebenefits of the scheme are threefold:

Firstly, in managing stakeholders because reducingenergy consumption translates directly into reducingCO2 emissions. This is a central plank in mostCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports.Secondly, a real driver in the current higher energyprice environment is the fact that reducing energyconsumption translates directly into the bottom line.For example, Sainsbury's has saved over 8m each yearover the period 1997 to 2005, and Glasgow Universityhas saved a total of 6.3m in energy costs over a 10-year period.

Thirdly, the scheme provides a framework forbenchmarking and spreading best practice. Theprincipal energy performance indicator used in theNHS is GJ/m3, and in the period 2002/03 to 2004/05 theBarnsley NHS Foundation Trust improved its indicatorfrom 0.59 to 0.55 as part of its re-accreditation. Thisplaced it in the top quartile of seventeensmall acute hospitals outside London.This performance is even morenoteworthy as the indicator forthe hospital was close to 1.0GJ/m3 in the late 1990's whenBarnsley was workingtowards its first accreditationin 1999.

The Scheme is open to anyorganisation from theindustrial, commercial or publicsectors, with single or multiplesites. Whole organisations,separately identifiable units withinthem, or single premises, e.g. aheadquarters building can be accredited.Organisations of all sizes can become accredited: thereare three price bands, according to the size of theannual energy bill. For further information about theaward please visit the websitewww.carbontrust.co.uk/eeas.

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