environment magazine

Accrediting the Green Deal: Building confidence and enabling business

By Jon Murthy, UKAS

The passing of the Climate Change Act 2008 saw the UK being set targets for reducing carbon emissions across all sectors of society.  The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) reports that up to a quarter of the UK’s total carbon emissions comes from energy used in homes.  It also states that a similar amount is a result of business, industry and workplace activity.  With some of Europe’s oldest building stock, the shoring up of draughty buildings and installing or increasing insulation measures is an essential yet daunting challenge for the UK.

At the end of last year DECC introduced its new “Green Deal” initiative to parliament as part of the new Energy Bill.  The aim of the scheme is relatively simple: to revolutionise the energy efficiency of British properties.  As any home or business owner will testify, the initial outlay for many of the measures designed to improve energy efficiency can prove to be a deterrent.  This has been recognised in the Green Deal, which establishes a framework that enables private firms to offer consumers energy efficiency improvements at no up-front cost.  Instead, the value of the investment will be recouped through a charge on the energy bill, fixed to the property.

Upon announcing the scheme Greg Barker, Minister of State at DECC, stated “The Green Deal will be the biggest home improvement programme since the Second World War, shifting our outdated draughty homes from the past into the future, so it’s vital people can trust it.”  To provide the necessary reassurance to those undertaking Green Deal improvements on their homes, community spaces and businesses, DECC has announced that it will require installers and assessors to be subject to accredited certification to the EN 45011 standard.

Accreditation and the Green Deal

Following an EU Directive, each member state must appoint a single National Accreditation Body (NAB).  This NAB is responsible for assessing evaluating organisations against internationally-recognised standards and awarding accredited status.  The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) was appointed the UK’s NAB in January 2010, although it has been the sole body recognised by government to accredit organisations since its formation in 1995 and has roots going back to the 1960s.

Accreditation is being used increasingly by the government to provide confidence in the services needed to deliver policy initiatives over a growing field of activity.  It already applies to a number of environmental standards and schemes, including MCERTS, ISO 14001 and PAS 2050.  As a first stage in ensuring that the new Green Deal standards for installers and assessors are met DECC has appointed UKAS to offer certification bodies accreditation under EN 45011.  This will allow the accredited certification bodies to certify assessors and installers to operate under the Green Deal.

By assessing the assessors, UKAS accreditation underpins the certification process for the Green Deal.  It will provide end consumers with confidence that there is a complete chain of competence right through to the organisations or individuals undertaking the Green Deal projects.  Ensuring that installers and assessors will meet the necessary standards when the Green Deal starts in 2012 is only part of the buy-in process to the new scheme.  The companies offering energy efficiency services need to be assured of the benefits of obtaining accredited certification status under the Green Deal.

What’s in it for me?

For some schemes, such as the Green Deal, accreditation is a legal requirement, whilst in others it is the expected norm.  Beyond the legal requirements, accredited certification can have valuable benefits for organisations and open doors to previously closed markets.  An increasing number of organisations, in both the public and private sectors are specifying UKAS accredited certification as a precondition to tendering for contracts.  A company that holds UKAS accredited certification is therefore able to overcome this hurdle and widen the potential market for its goods or services by demonstrating credible evidence of best practice. 

Regardless of industry sector or market conditions, customers need to have confidence in the goods and services that they procure.  Making an informed choice is essential.  Accredited certification demonstrates the ability to deliver consistently reliable, impartial, and accurate services, meeting internationally-recognised standards. This generates customer confidence in the companies that either hold or utilise services that have achieved accredited certification status.  This is particularly important when dealing with homeowners regarding what can be a significant long term investment.

In addition to positive effect on customers, accredited certification can benefit the business’ bottom line.  At first glance achieving UKAS accredited certification status may appear to be yet another distraction that prevents time-strapped business owners from concentrating on providing the company’s core products or services.  In fact the opposite is true, as accreditation can help those owners devote more time to the sharp end of their business.  It also has a key role to play in saving businesses time and money. 

Summary

The appointment of UKAS to support the Green Deal in this way is another indication of the government’s increasing use of accreditation to provide confidence in the services needed to deliver policy initiatives over a growing field of activity.  In addition to providing end users with the necessary confidence in Green Deal installations, gaining accredited certification can confer a number of tangible benefits on an installers business.

UKAS is inviting expressions of interest from UK-based certification bodies to participate in pilot programmes for accredited certification of Green Deal assessors and installers.   The pilot will provide the opportunity for certification bodies to achieve accreditation under EN 45011 for certification of installers and assessors against the specifications, which are currently being drafted.  DECC has indicated that limited financial support may be available for certification bodies participating in the pilot programme to assist with some of the accreditation costs.  Further details of this support will be supplied by DECC at a later date.