Climate Change Agreements

Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) were set up by the UK Government to encourage greater uptake of energy efficiency measures amongst companies in energy intensive industries. CCAs are part of the Government’s policy to reduce use of energy and hence reduce CO2 emissions.

CCAs provide companies with a significant financial incentive – a discount on the Climate Change Levy (CCL) which is applied on electricity, gas, propane and coal, plus, exemption from the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC). To retain this financial benefit each company must achieve an energy saving target set for a two-year period. Participation in a CCA is voluntary, but as the financial incentives are very strong almost all sites that can have a CCA apply for one.

CCAs were introduced in 2001 and initially ran to 2013. We are now in the second cycle of CCAs, which run from 2013 to 2023. Some of the rules have changed slightly but many aspects of “new CCAs” are very similar to the old ones.

From 1st April 2020 Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) allow eligible energy intensive businesses to receive up to a 93% discount on CCL charges applied to electricity and 78% applied to natural gas. The main rates of CCL are charged on energy supplied to an end user.