Carbon Reduction Commitment - BPF Guide

The British Property Federation has launched a guide to the forthcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment which will start affect property owners and occupiers from April 2010. You can read the BPF press release by clicking on BPF Carbon Reduction Commitment Guide. The press release includes links to a number of documents including, most importantly of course, the Guide itself. The Guide sets out steps for landlords and tenants to consider taking prior to the introduction of CRC, advice on how costs may be apportioned between landlords and tenants, a consideration of what may need to happen when a building is transferred to a CRC participant (so that it then falls within the scheme) or transferred out (so that it leaves the scheme), and information on how CRC recycling payments work. To get an initial handle on CRC, read the commentary in the CPI Update for April 2009, by clicking to CPI April 2009 (Issue 67).

Much debating will be done between now and the introduction of CRC as to how much of its workings needs to be covered by clauses in a lease. Should leases deal extensively with the costs and mechanics of CRC, or adopt a light touch approach? The major drafting difficulty is that CRC is not a scheme that applies on a building-by-building basis, but on an entity-by-entity basis. These pages will keep you posted as to how the property profession is planning to deal with the changes ahead.