New DECC Consultation: the role of appliances and consumer electronics in CERT

Consultation on the role of appliances and consumer electronics in the Carbon Emissions Reduction Targets (CERT) 

The full consultation including documentation is available on the DECC website under Consultations.

This new consultation follows a commitment made in the Government response to the CERT extension to December 2012 in which it undertook to consult further before making final decisions on the role of products.

In the consultation we propose that there are several core principles against which any measure to be promoted under CERT should be assessed:

• confidence that carbon savings are realised
• avoidance of deadweight
• focus on non-traded sector
• positive impact on vulnerable households; and
• contributes to scheme transparency.

Government is likely to want to introduce restrictions, from April 2011, on any product where evidence of meeting these principles is lacking.

We therefore invite stakeholders to provide comments on the principles we propose, evidence on how specific products being considered meet these principles and to consider alternative approaches and solutions to ensuring the CERT scheme is optimised to promotes energy saving measures consumers want and need support in taking up, on which we can have assurance they will be installed and replace less efficient alternatives, saving the awarded lifetime carbon saving score.

The decisions we make will not only impact on the appliances, consumer electronics and other gadgets to be considered specifically here, but also the level of support available for key heating and insulation measures, as more of these measures will be installed if there are fewer competing options for energy suppliers to support. It is therefore vitally important that DECC receives views and evidence from all interested parties.

The deadline for responses to the consultation is 7 January 2011.