Leak springs good news

The European Ceramic Industry Association has welcomed the Climate Change Committee’s approval of the European Commission draft decision to add ‘bricks, tiles and construction products in baked clay’ to the list of sectors at significant risk of carbon leakage.

The draft decision will undergo three months of scrutiny by the European Council and Parliament. Sectors exposed to considerable risk of carbon leakage will receive free allocation corresponding to 100% of their benchmarks, whereas the level of free allocation for other sectors will start at 80% from 2013.

Further information: www.cerameunie.eu

See also the feature Focus on emissions from this issue for more on this topic.

Sending the right message to SMEs

The Cut the Carbon Partnership has launched a free email alert service to help SME contractors better understand carbon policy and exploit business opportunities.

The alerts will provide a countdown to impending measures, including the Green Deal, Renewable Heat Incentives and the Green Investment Bank. It will also point SMEs towards the skills and knowledge they need to respond.

The Cut the Carbon Campaign is a partnership between CITB-ConstructionSkills, the National Specialist Contractors Council and the Federation of Master Builders, all based in the UK.

Further information: www.cskills.org/cutcarbon

CIOB innovation competition open

The Chartered Institute of Building is encouraging entries for its International Innovation and Research Awards, which bring together practitioners with education and training providers as well as policy makers, in an effort to develop new ideas, techniques and materials for the building industry.

Entry for this year’s competition closes on 1 July, and winners will be announced on 4 October at the Building Research Establishment Insite11 Exhibition.

Further information: www.ciob.org.uk