The Climate Change Agreements (CCA) scheme, which offers tax benefits to firms which agree to energy efficiency targets, has delivered a reduction in emissions of 6.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent during 2019 and 2020.

This equates to an overall emissions reduction of 13.3 per cent across a total of 8,705 facilities signed up to the scheme, which is administered by the Environment Agency (EA) on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The EA’s latest biennial report also showed that, between 2013 and 2020, the CCA scheme has seen total emissions savings of 23.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, said: “The CCA scheme is encouraging businesses to find ways to reduce their energy usage and consequently their carbon emissions. Innovation is key, and the Environment Agency is here to support that through progressive regulation.”

During the 2019-20 reporting period, the operators of 1,510 (47.4 per cent) agreements, covering 3,110 facilities, met or exceeded their improvement targets. Operators who failed to meet their targets used any banked emissions savings from previous target periods, and paid a buy-out fee for each outstanding tonne of emissions above the target.

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