Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting

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Bringing the benefits of carbon and energy reporting to more businesses through SECR

The aim of the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) legislation was to encourage the implementation of energy efficiency measures and to bring visibility of carbon performance alongside financial performance reporting.

SECR was introduced in 2019, as mandatory legislation to replace the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Scheme.

The requirements

Obligated companies must report and submit the following to Companies House annually;

energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions within their financial accounts for Companies House.

energy efficiency measures and emissions with reference to an intensity metric, e.g. tonnes of co2e/£m sales revenue.

Businesses successfully meeting SECR obligations all feed into the collective effort to decarbonise the UK power system, driving the change required to reduce effects of climate change.

Currently SECR includes scope 1 & 2 emissions and reporting on scope 3 (value chain emissions) is voluntary under the current framework (scope 3 accounts for 80-95% of the total value chain of an organisation’s footprint).

The UK consultation which closed at the end of 2023, UK greenhouse gas emissions reporting: Scope 3 emissions, explored the current SECR framework to inform a Post-Implementation Review of the policy. Considering this, it is possible the current SECR framework could be strengthened, encouraging businesses to consider their complete organisation footprint.

Are you obligated for SECR?

SECR applies to all quoted companies, large limited liability partnerships and large UK incorporated unquoted companies*. Limited liability partnerships and UK incorporated quoted companies are considered to be large and must comply with the legislation if they meet two or more of the qualification criteria below:

250 or more employees
Turnover in excess of £36 million
Balance sheet in excess of £18 million

* Organisations using less than 40,000 kWh per annum will not be required to report

Confirmation of obligation

Work with our solutions team to analyse your financial performance to assess if you are required to comply with SECR.
Data collection

Our delivery team will outline the key data requirements for SECR specific to your organisation and provide you with resources to help you collate the necessary data.
Energy reporting and emissions quantification

Working with the data you provide we will complete all necessary GHG calculations for you to comply with SECR.
Preparation of annual SECR report

Beyondly will provide supporting analysis of energy consumption and emissions.
Provision of audit

If required, Beyondly can share insights with your financial auditors to explain carbon emission results.
Confirmation of compliance

Training and verification support also available if required.

Disclosure is not required if the entity consumed 40,000 kWh of energy or less during the reporting period.

Yes, smaller companies can voluntarily report under SECR by including the relevant carbon and energy information within their financial accounts.

If you are obligated to comply with SECR businesses must include their SECR results within their annual financial accounts, therefore must comply every year.

This will depend on if your organization is a quoted or an unquoted company, for unquoted companies the emission boundary is limited to the UK and offshore area only. However if you are a quoted company the boundary does extend globally.

Market-based accounting reflects emissions based on the actual energy contracts and certificates a company has purchased, this includes renewable energy. In order to account for this businesses should have renewable energy certificates or REC’s.

Examples include, but is not limited to, upgrading to energy efficient lighting, improved transport logistics, optimised BMS, improved building insulation.

An intensity ratio is a metric that expresses a company’s GHG emissions in relation to an operational parameter. This ratio can allow companies to easier assess their carbon performance especially if the business size is changing.

An example of an intensity ratio is carbon emissions per million pounds of revenue (tCO2e per £million turnover).

Training

We provide tailored virtual training sessions for SECR covering the GHG protocol, data collection, carbon emission calculations, and carbon footprint reporting writing in order to equip your organisation with further tools to meet your carbon reporting requirements.

Verification

In order to verify your carbon footprint or SECR calculations we can:

Verify total energy consumption against evidential records.
Check calculations of Green House Gas emissions in line with the approved GHG protocol standard / SECR guidelines and published emissions factors in scope.
Check methodology and make suggestions of improvements where required.
Examine the final report to ensure all elements are correct and included.

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Compliance

Consultancy

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