Energy management and carbon accounting schemes are increasingly being adopted as a corporate response to climate change. These schemes often demand the setting of ambitious targets for the reduction of corporate greenhouse gas emissions. However, only limited empirical insight is available regarding the companies' target-setting process and the auditing practice of certification agencies that evaluate ambition levels of greenhouse gas reduction targets. We studied the target-setting process of firms participating in the CO2 Performance Ladder. The CO2 Performance Ladder is a new certifiable scheme for energy management and carbon accounting that is used as a tool for green public procurement in the Netherlands. This study aimed at answering the question 'To what extent does the current target-setting process in the CO2 Performance Ladder lead to ambitious CO2 emission reduction goals?'. An exploratory research design was used as the main research approach for this study. Data were collected through interviews with relevant stakeholders (companies, consultants, auditors and scheme owner), document reviews of the certification scheme, and monitoring reports. The research findings indicated that several certification requirements for setting CO2 emission reduction targets were interpreted differently by the various actors. Conformity checks by the auditors did not always include a full assessment of all certification requirements because of the lack of well-defined assessment criteria. The research results also indicated that corporate CO2 emission reduction targets were not ambitious. The analysis of the target-setting process revealed that there was a semi-structured bottom-up auditing practice for evaluating the corporate CO2 emission reduction targets, but the final assessments of whether target levels were sufficiently ambitious were not very well defined. The main conclusion is that the current target-setting process in the CO2 Performance Ladder did not necessarily lead to the establishment of the most ambitious goals for CO2 emission reduction. Other approaches for setting target levels, such as minimum performance levels, must be considered to maintain the CO2 Performance Ladder as a valid tool for green public procurement.@en

Green public procurement is often promoted as a tool to reduce energy use and CO2 emissions in the supply chains of public entities. However, only a limited number of studies has quantitatively assessed the environmental impacts of green public procurement schemes. The aim of this paper was to assess the potential impact of the CO2 Performance Ladder on the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the Netherlands. The CO2 Performance Ladder is a new green procurement scheme that is currently used by several Dutch public authorities. It is a staged certification scheme for energy and CO 2 management. Achieving certification gives companies a competitive advantage in the contract awarding process. Currently, more than 190 companies participate in the scheme. The scheme accounts for 1.7 Mt of aggregate CO 2 emissions, corresponding to nearly 1% of national greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands. Since the introduction of the scheme, total CO2 emissions have decreased substantially. Nevertheless, these emission reductions should be interpreted with caution because the emission reductions are largely due to reductions by a few companies, and the level of emissions is affected to a large extent by economic activity. The companies participating in the scheme have set different types of CO2 reduction targets with varying levels of ambition. The projected impact of reaching these targets on CO2 emissions is a total CO2 emission reduction in the range of a 0.8-1.5%/yr, with a most likely value of 1.3%/yr. The CO2 Performance Ladder could therefore contribute significantly to achieve the annual reduction rate necessary to remain below the 2020 Dutch emission ceiling for sectors not included in the European Union Emission Trading Scheme.@en

Since 1992, Long-Term Agreements on energy efficiency improvement have become the main policy instrument for energy conservation in The Netherlands. This paper investigates whether these agreements bring about improvements in energy efficiency additional to those that would occur anyway, were there no such agreements. The major part of the paper explores two possible methods to isolate the impact of the agreements on energy conservation. The first method, which is based on a bottom-up approach, assesses the actual outcome by analysing the effects that changes in the firms' investment behaviour have on industrial energy conservation. The second method, which is based on a top-down approach, assesses the actual outcome by comparing the monitored energy efficiency improvements with modelled, estimated efficiency improvements in the 'business-as-usual case'. The main conclusion is that between a quarter and a half of the energy savings in Dutch manufacturing industry can be attributed to the agreements.@en

Industrial energy policies often require the setting of quantitative targets to reduce energy use and/or greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper a taxonomy has been developed for categorizing SMART industrial energy use or greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. The taxonomy includes volume reduction targets, physical efficiency improvement targets, economic intensity improvement targets and economic targets. This paper also provides a comprehensive overview of targets for industrial energy use or greenhouse gas emission reductions at sector or firm level in past, current and proposed future policies worldwide. This overview includes approximately 50 different emission permit systems, voluntary or negotiated agreement schemes and emission trading systems. Finally, the paper includes an assessment of the various types of targets. The target types are compared with respect to the certainty of the environmental outcome and compliance costs, the targets' relevance for the public and for industry and their environmental integrity, as well as their complexity and potential for comparison.@en