17 December 2012

The BPIF has successfully reduced the governments Climate Change Agreement targets for the printing industry by 30%.

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 said ' there are particular reasons why a 12% improvement would be too onerous for the industry. 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 was therefore vital that the industry had a target it had a chance of achieving.'

Since the end of the original scheme in 2010 the BPIF lobbied hard to encourage the government to extend it for a further period. This was crucial as the BPIF scheme not only saves the 220 participating print sites in excess of £6m a year, it also gives them an exemption from the recently introduced and very costly 'CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme'.

The result is the printing industry now has a scheme that will continue to provide significant cost savings for the next ten years while at the same time encourage greater energy efficiency within it.

For further information regarding the scheme, including how you can join and how it can benefit your site, please contact Steve Walker at the BPIF on 01676 526 050 or email [email protected]