40 CLIMATE STRATEGY www.ipesearch.com
FEATURE
or an annual balance sheet of more
than £37.9 m or is part of a larger
organisation that falls into any of
the above categories. Non-compliant
companies face
fines of up to £90,000.
Companies that fall within
the scope of ESOS are
required to undertake
an energy audit
conducted or overseen
by an approved ESOS
Lead Assessor. The
pump manufacturing and
repair industry reacted
positively to this
development by investing
heavily in training qualified
auditors and was fully ready
to support the policy. However,
there was opposition from
some major industrial
companies who simply saw this
change to better, more reliable
and up-to-date technology as an
increased cost, rather than an
opportunity for savings. As a result
of their lobbying, they succeeded in
getting agreement that organisations
fully covered by ISO 50001, which is
aimed at energy management, did not
need to have a separate ESOS audit.
Under UK law, ESOS or ISO 50001
audits must be conducted every four
years. The first deadline was 5
December 2015, the second was 5
December 2019 and the next deadline
will be 5 December 2023. So, in
principle, the larger companies covered
by this energy audit requirement
should have been busy since 2015,
upgrading their pumps to a green
standard, as indicated by the audits.
However, those who opted for ISO
50001 saw a convenient loophole, as,
unlike the ESOS audits, ISO 50001
(2012) did not require the audit
recommendations to be acted upon.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the
fate of the planet has been coming into
increasing focus. This is demonstrated
by the UK government’s commitment
to its 10-point plan for a Green Industrial
Revolution. It is also reflected in the
updated version of ISO 50001 (2018). In
sections 9 and 10 of the 2018 version,
the standard now stipulates that energy
savings identified must be achieved or
else certification will be withdrawn. This
means that, finally, all firms covered by
the legislation must have energy audits
and that the audit recommendations
should be implemented.
What action is needed?
It may seem that the problem is solved,
therefore. The big industrial users of
pumps have been given their marching
orders and the government can
concentrate on the new horizon
industries in the 10-point plan, putting
the potential savings just identified into
the carbon bank.
Unfortunately, there continues to be
strong resistance among some sectors
to undertaking meaningful pump
audits. Often, the debate doesn’t even
reach the boardroom, and even where
there is a solid investment case,
nothing happens.
The remedy is two-fold. Market
surveillance in the UK, despite the
convenient assumption that we
somehow have the ‘gold standard’
when it comes to following rules, is
lamentably absent in this area. Even if a
company is identified as being in
breach of ESOS, a penalty of £90,000 is
not even a slap on the wrist for a big
business.
Decisive action is needed to tighten
enforcement. Introducing meaningful
penalties, perhaps based on a
proportion of company turnover,
should be considered. In addition,
there must be the political will to resist
what is often misinformed pressure
from big industry. On the other hand,
while many of the cases for upgrading
pumps will be clear-cut, financial
assistance to encourage
modernisation should also be
examined.
Not all industries can be ‘new horizon’,
so surely the 11th point in the UK
government’s plan must be to ensure
that our existing sectors are shown the
same attention and encouragement to
reduce their energy consumption if we
are to reach the Net Zero target. There
is little doubt that pumps can play a
significant role in this.
Steve Schofield is CEO of the British
Pump Manufacturers Association,
BPMA
For more information:
www.bpma.org.uk
Tel: 0121 601 6350
There must be
the political
will to resist
what is often
misinformed
pressure from
big industry
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