Tread carefully with carbon
Business undoubtedly has a huge role to play in reducing carbon emissions.
British Airways is the latest to rise to the challenge, introducing a green audit to establish how the organisation’s IT relates to its overall carbon footprint and where cuts can be made.
Suppliers are also getting involved. IBM is investing $1bn (£500m) in its green business unit launched this week, and presumably expects a return.
Now the government wants a piece of the action.
This week’s energy white paper is expected to include plans for the world’s most far-reaching carbon trading scheme – establishing thresholds for electricity use beyond which organisations must buy additional allowances.
The plan has much to recommend it. Trading schemes have the benefit of acting as a competitive incentive, unlike the braking effect of a blanket tax.
And cutting electricity use is the most effective way to cut carbon emissions in the short term. IBM’s green unit is aiming for a whopping 42 per cent reduction in power consumption, which suggests plenty of slack in data centre efficiency alone.
The danger is that, far from other countries following our lead, they may simply steal our business.
London’s world-leading financial services industry has benefited hugely from the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a lesson in the global effect of local regulation.
The extra cost to UK business of carbon pricing may damage our competitiveness, put off investors and drive carbon-intensive processes to even less green locations.
But there is much business can do to address environmental concerns. And IT – from automated shutdowns to low-power server farms – is a good place to start.
The government must not pursue carbon trading blindly, however, putting disproportionate responsibility onto business to avoid the politically sensitive domestic housing sector. The proposed scheme will have to be designed phenomenally carefully to be sure it does not do more harm than good.
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