London Zoo is to become the first company to be accredited under the Carbon Management Association’s (CMA) Low Energy Company (LEC) scheme, due to be launched in October, Energy Demand can exclusively reveal.
Under the programme, the zoo has agreed to train around 600 of its employees (which amounts to almost 100% of its total staff) in basic energy management in a bid to help its supply chain also achieve LEC status.
Energy services company NIFES is carrying out training to the CMA’s Level 1 accredited standard as part of an energy performance contract supplied by the firm.
Chief guinea pig
The zoo is acting as the chief guinea pig in the pilot of the LEC project, prior to the full launch of the scheme on October 3rd. The CMA told Energy Demand that the organisation was in discussions with a number of big corporate names, including Lloyds Bank, Bupa, RBS, Vodafone and Morrisons, with a total employee count of over a million to follow in the zoo’s footsteps and join the scheme.
“Negotiations are on-going but we are pretty confident that companies employing over a million people will be pledged to take LEC status at Oct 3rd at London Zoo,” policy director Tim Mukasa said at the Eco Technology Show in Brighton. “This amounts to a big portion of the workforce.”
In addition to the basic energy management training proviso, LEC companies also commit to helping their supply chain become LEC audited. As such, London Zoo has already pledged to apply pressure to its 500-strong supply chain to join the scheme.
“This is a top down approach: get big companies signed up to this and eventually other people will have to follow in,” Mukasa added.
The LEC programme will see companies pledge to train a set proportion of their staff in basic energy management, at CMA-accredited Levels 1 and 2. The exact proportions have yet to be set and will vary from sector to sector.