With the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) looming just around the corner, the online news has been full for the last week or so with stories of those that are doing good and those that will have to buy carbon credits to meet requirements.

Some of those that are doing a good job are giants like HSBC who have, yet again, managed to reduce their carbon output by another 10% and who become the 100th achiever that the Carbon Trust Standard Company has certified.

Of the 5,000 or so heavy energy use organisations that will need to comply or face a hefty bill are schools, colleges, universities and, of course, Whitehall.

Many of our educational institutions could face reduced budgets to spend on the education of our future business leaders if, as seems to be the case, they will have to buy additional credits due to years of talk and meeting and… inactivity.

Whitehall is perhaps the poorest example of them all; although the Treasury Department has reduced its carbon footprint by some 41%, to be expected by a department of bean-counters, the Department for Children, Schools and Families managed a pathetic 16%, setting the example that was obviously followed by the schools themselves and exposing them all to a hefty bill for additional carbon credits.

Parliament’s own Environmental Audit Committee questions whether the government is capable of reducing its estate emissions by 12.5% by 2011. The government has naturally claimed that its own people are wrong and is carrying on with business as usual.

If ever there was proof that we need to look to our own, business community for guidance and leadership, this surely is it. HSBC, Asda, Tesco, Eurotunnel and the like have all cut their emissions and cut them significantly.

Why? Because it makes business sense to do it. Not only will these companies not be frittering away hard-earned profits by purchasing additional carbon credits, they are also enjoying lower operating costs because the best way to cut your emissions is to reduce your energy usage and reducing energy usage reduces your costs. These organisations are now leaner, meaner and greener in the best sense.

Government, in stark contrast, is still obese, wasteful and too consumed with meeting after meeting generating more and more spin which even the likes Peter Mandelson can no longer dress up to sound credible (I guess that is why he now collecting titles on the way to becoming leader of the Universe!).

The first 100 companies certified by the Carbon Trust Standard Company cut their combined carbon use by 600,000 tonnes, saving themselves a combined £50m in energy bills.

One wonders how much better our taxes might look if the government stopped telling everyone else what and started walking the talk… and shame that, once again, it is our children’s education that will have to pay the price for their continued mismanagement.

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