This mandatory scheme for large businesses aimed to improve energy efficiency by mandating that businesses to measure their energy consumption and put in place cost-effective energy savings measures. The UK government ended this program in 2019. The scheme applied to large energy users in the public and private sectors across the UK, including supermarkets, water companies, banks, local authorities and all central government departments. Organisations that met the qualification criteria were required to participate, and they were required to buy allowances for every tonne of carbon they emit.