Most CRC enforcement will be done through civil rather than criminal penalties, but these can be hefty.
An organisation failing to provide an annual report on time will face an immediate £5,000 fine plus a further penalty of 5p per tonne of CO2 for each day it is late. So a typical CRC organisation emitting 10,000tCO2 per year would pay £500 for each extra day.
There is a £40 fine for each tonne of CO2 incorrectly reported, applied whenever the margin of error is greater than 5%.
It is a criminal offence for CRC participants to actively or knowingly mislead the administrator, as is non-compliance with enforcement actions. Offenders face up to two years in jail or unlimited fines on indictment.
The Carbon Reduction Commitment
A special report, sponsored by RPS(energy and environmental consultants)