The Government has moved to allow more businesses to join its Climate Change Agreement (CCA) scheme which currently provides members of the cold storage industry with a collective £10 million saving every year.

The CCA scheme was established in 2001 with businesses from a range of sectors signing up to meet targets for improving the energy efficiency of their facilities, in return for a discount on their Climate Change Levy bills.

Previously due to end in 2023 and closed to new entrants in 2018, the Government announced in March that the CCA scheme will be extended until 2025 and reopened for new applications.

More than 400 facilities are already signatories to the cold storage CCA and collectively, they have made a 16% improvement in the energy efficiency of their cold storage facilities between 2012 and 2018, beating the sector’s scheme target.

“This is a very difficult time for our industry, but we don’t expect to see another opportunity to join this scheme or a similar one for several years, so businesses should be sure they take this opportunity now.”

The scheme has been welcomed by Cold Chain Federation (CCF) chief executive, Shane Brennan, who said: “Driving energy efficiency is good for business and good for the environment. Through our Climate Change Agreement, we are leading our industry to achieve this double benefit. It was such a shame that we were forced to close the scheme to new entrants in 2018 and we are glad the Government has been convinced to allow us to reopen to new facilities. This presents the opportunity to save money and benchmark energy performance to more businesses across the cold chain.

“We are urging business to act fast. Applying to join the cold storage CCA is straightforward but it does take time and the deadline for getting your application to us is 28th August, so we advise businesses to start the process by early July. The Cold Chain Federation administers the scheme and we can provide support and advice to cold storage businesses wanting to apply for the first time, and to those wanting to add a new facility to their existing agreement.

“This is a very difficult time for our industry, but we don’t expect to see another opportunity to join this scheme or a similar one for several years, so businesses should be sure they take this opportunity now.”