CCA extension
The Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) scheme, initially set to end on 31st March 2025, is now extended until 31st March 2027. The scheme is administered by the Environment Agency (EA).

The scheme is extended by The Climate Change Agreements (Administration and Eligible Facilities) (Amendment) Regulations 2023, which comes into force on 31st December 2023 and amends:

About CCAs
Climate change agreements are voluntary agreements between organisations in the UK industry sectors and the Government. Scheme participants enter into an agreement to reduce their energy use or emissions and, in exchange, will pay a reduced rate of Climate Change Levy (CCL). The current CCL discount is 90%.
Compliance
Scheme participants can remain compliant with the CCA scheme by:

*Scheme participants may, if they fail to achieve the energy efficiency or the emissions reduction target, pay a buy-out fee, which is calculated per tonne of CO2.

Key Changes
The extension to the CCA scheme brings a number of changes, such as:

*Surplus means the amount by which the reduction in emissions has exceeded the target during a target period.

Changes to penalties

The maximum financial penalty is increased from £250 to £500.

However, the scheme administrator is given discretion to waive or reduce the amount of financial penalty, or to allow extra time for payment, where appropriate.

Publishing information

For financial penalties issued after 31st December 2023, the administrator must publish: