The Carbon Trust

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The Carbon Trust is a not for dividend company limited by guarantee created by the UK government to help businesses and public organisations to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, through improved energy efficiency and developing low carbon technology. Its stated mission is to acclerate the move to a low carbon economy. The Carbon Trust has a three stage approach to reducing businesses' carbon emissions - firstly increasing energy efficiency and reducing direct carbon emissions, secondly by identifying and reducing carbon emissions in the supply chain and when the first two have been maximised where relevant by considering offsetting the remaining emissions through a valid and additional source. It also funds the development and deployment of low carbon technologies and is actively engaged in the fuel cell, wave energy, wind energy, biomass and biofuels and solar energy sectors. Unusually for a government sponsored organisation it operates venture capital funds - in this case in the early-stage low carbon technology sector. It also has created a number of subsidiary companies such as Partnership for Renewables which develops renewable energy on public sector land and the Carbon Label company that labels products with their carbon footprint. It finances a number of loan funds - including an interest-free loan for small and medium sized enterprises for energy-efficient equipment, and a similar scheme for the public sector through Salix finance. In the year ending March 2007, the trust received grant income of £87 million from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform the Scottish Executive, the National Assembly for Wales, and Invest Northern Ireland. It is partly funded from the Climate Change Levy, a tax on electricity, gas, and coal.^[1]

The current Chief Executive is Tom Delay, who came to the trust after a career with energy company Shell and management consultancies McKinsey and A.T. Kearney. The current Chairman is Ian McAllister, who is also Chairman of Network Rail.

A carbon label - which shows the carbon footprint embodied in a product in bringing it to the shelf was introduced for the first time, in the UK in March 2007, by the Carbon Trust. Examples of products featuring their carbon footprint in the UK are Walkers Crisps, a range of own brand products in Tesco supermarkets, Halifax (HBOS) bank accounts & Continental clothing.