Industry should act now on inefficient energy management policies

Published:  09 June, 2014

BM TRADA, international certification body, says public and private-sector organisations risk major financial risk and reputational damage if they fail to improve energy efficiency

Inefficient energy management policies and management systems are leaving companies and public-sector organisations “wide open” to major financial risk, international certification body BM TRADA commented recently.

Spiralling energy costs, growing concern over energy security and increasing regulatory pressure to reduce carbon emissions are making the need for greater energy efficiency a “necessity, not nicety” for all organisations, it says.

Heavy-energy industry sectors including transport, food producers and manufacturers, public sector organisations such as hospitals, schools and local authority buildings, energy companies and construction firms have the “most to gain” from overhauling their energy management procedures.

Failing to act could expose businesses to “significant” financial pressures and market uncertainties, as well as reputational risks, in the long term.

A spokesman for the international testing, inspection and certification body said curbing inefficient usage could save the UK industry sector billions of pounds in wasted energy.

It also has the “very real potential” of reducing industry's global carbon footprint, which last year amounted to 75million tonnes in the UK alone.

Tom Johnston, BM TRADA’s chief operating officer of central certification services, said companies need to continue “rising to the challenge” of energy management.

Speaking at the launch of BM TRADA's expansion into UKAS-accredited ISO 50001:2011 Energy Management Certification, following a successful pilot scheme, Johnston said:

“The cost of energy is rising rapidly, fuelled in part by growing concern over energy security, and it is the business and public sectors that are feeling the financial impact the most.”

The comments come just months after Sam Laidlaw, the chief executive of British multinational utility company Centrica, warned that the UK would be reliant on natural gas imports of 70 % by 2020.

Governments and NGOs around the world are putting increasing pressure on the private and public sector to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint.