If an organisation uses at least one half-hour electricity meter which is settled on what is known as the half-hour market, it should receive an interesting package from the Environment Agency this Autumn. Approximately 20,000 such organisations are going to be asked if they qualify for mandatory entry into the CRC, which is a scheme for trading carbon emissions which goes live in 2010. It is estimated that approximately 5,000 organisations will have to register - as a rule of thumb, this will be because their 2008 electricity bill exceeded £1/2m.

Allowances for emissions will have to be purchased, eventually by auction, and they can be traded. At the beginning, it is likely that the minimum annual cost of the allowances will be £38k. Performance league tables will be compiled and published. CRC is intended to be revenue-neutral, so there will be "revenue recycling" - in other words, bonuses for the good performers and penalties for the carbon profligates.

Unless your organisation is likely to receive one of the Environment Agency's qualification packs, you may wonder what the CRC has to do with your business. Apart from the near certainty that the qualification thresholds will come down over a period of time, the CRC is going to have an impact on commercial leasing. A significant number of landlords will be participants in the CRC, or at least they will want to make sure that their leases are not offensive to potential future investors who may themselves be caught by the CRC.

The CRC raises many complex and as yet unresolved challenges for the commercial landlord/tenant relationship. If landlords are going to expect tenants to bear some of the CRC burden, new lease wording will need to be agreed. The British Property Federation has released a useful, but inconclusive guide which you can download if you search for "CRC a guide for landlords and tenants" on its website, www.bpf.org.uk.

If you require any further advice or assistance please contact Brian Spencer or a member of the Property team at Wortley Byers on 01277 268303 or bspencer@wortleybyers.co.uk.

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