The Carbon Trust’s website states: “By stimulating low carbon action we contribute to key UK goals of lower carbon emissions, the development of low carbon businesses, increased energy security and associated jobs.”
Well, they must be relying on the “special support” they give to businesses and the public sector because they don’t practice what they preach. An email sent to Carbon Trust employees - and leaked to Copenhagenize.com – states:
"If you choose to cycle FOR work (e.g. attending an external meeting)…your safety is your responsibility. However, the Carbon Trust has a duty of care for all of us, and for this reason, the company does not advocate cycling to and from meetings on company business and an alternative method of travel should always be considered."
They are also against staff using Boris bikes:
“Expense claims for hiring Boris bikes will not be reimbursed by the company. The reason for this is that the company cannot assess the quality or safety of any Boris bike and it is impractical for it to undertake risk assessments for each individual journey and to provide training and equipment."
Does that mean that the Carbon Trust has performed a safety assessment of every train, car or bus that their employees take to and from business meetings? BikeBiz.com has emailed the Carbon Trust asking this question and is awaiting reply.
Clearly they have not carried out a carbon assessment of this company policy because if they had they would not forbid employees from choosing the low carbon option of cycling to and from work meetings. Hopefully the Carbon Trust doesn’t advise their clients to ban biking during working hours and if a company were to have this policy it would surely not receive the prestigious Carbon Trust Standard. The Carbon Trust Standard is awarded to organisations that measure, manage and reduce their carbon footprint.
But when you have all these government funded bodies telling people how to live their lives it is bound to get a bit confusing and contradictory. We have the Potato Council promoting the “Love Chips” campaign and the NHS warning against fatty foods. We have the costly anti-tobacco EU campaigns, yet the EU subsides the tobacco industry to the tune of millions every year.
The taxpayer pays for all of these schizophrenic messages. In 2009/10 the Carbon Trust received nearly £118 million from the Department of Energy and Climate Change in its core grant. Of course, you can’t find out exactly what they do with your money because they are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But we do know that their Chief Executive Tom Delay received remuneration of £237,797 in 2008-09.
The TPA called for the Carbon Trust to be abolished because it not accountable and transparent, provides high remuneration packages for staff and is an unnecessary waste of taxpayers’ money. Now we know that the Carbon Trust doesn’t even heed their own low carbon mantra there is all the more reason for them to be scrapped.
If you would like to see the Carbon Trust scrapped please contact Chris Huhne [email protected] or write to him at:
Chris Huhne
Department of Energy and Climate Change
3 Whitehall Place
London
SW1A 2AW
Please share this with your friends through Facebook, Twitter, and email, and encourage other people to do the same. Together we can get this quango scrapped.
The Carbon Trust’s website states: “By stimulating low carbon action we contribute to key UK goals of lower carbon emissions, the development of low carbon businesses, increased energy security and associated jobs.”
Well, they must be relying on the “special support” they give to businesses and the public sector because they don’t practice what they preach. An email sent to Carbon Trust employees - and leaked to Copenhagenize.com – states:
"If you choose to cycle FOR work (e.g. attending an external meeting)…your safety is your responsibility. However, the Carbon Trust has a duty of care for all of us, and for this reason, the company does not advocate cycling to and from meetings on company business and an alternative method of travel should always be considered."
They are also against staff using Boris bikes:
“Expense claims for hiring Boris bikes will not be reimbursed by the company. The reason for this is that the company cannot assess the quality or safety of any Boris bike and it is impractical for it to undertake risk assessments for each individual journey and to provide training and equipment."
Does that mean that the Carbon Trust has performed a safety assessment of every train, car or bus that their employees take to and from business meetings? BikeBiz.com has emailed the Carbon Trust asking this question and is awaiting reply.
Clearly they have not carried out a carbon assessment of this company policy because if they had they would not forbid employees from choosing the low carbon option of cycling to and from work meetings. Hopefully the Carbon Trust doesn’t advise their clients to ban biking during working hours and if a company were to have this policy it would surely not receive the prestigious Carbon Trust Standard. The Carbon Trust Standard is awarded to organisations that measure, manage and reduce their carbon footprint.
But when you have all these government funded bodies telling people how to live their lives it is bound to get a bit confusing and contradictory. We have the Potato Council promoting the “Love Chips” campaign and the NHS warning against fatty foods. We have the costly anti-tobacco EU campaigns, yet the EU subsides the tobacco industry to the tune of millions every year.
The taxpayer pays for all of these schizophrenic messages. In 2009/10 the Carbon Trust received nearly £118 million from the Department of Energy and Climate Change in its core grant. Of course, you can’t find out exactly what they do with your money because they are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But we do know that their Chief Executive Tom Delay received remuneration of £237,797 in 2008-09.
The TPA called for the Carbon Trust to be abolished because it not accountable and transparent, provides high remuneration packages for staff and is an unnecessary waste of taxpayers’ money. Now we know that the Carbon Trust doesn’t even heed their own low carbon mantra there is all the more reason for them to be scrapped.
If you would like to see the Carbon Trust scrapped please contact Chris Huhne [email protected] or write to him at:
Chris Huhne
Department of Energy and Climate Change
3 Whitehall Place
London
SW1A 2AW
Please share this with your friends through Facebook, Twitter, and email, and encourage other people to do the same. Together we can get this quango scrapped.