SECR is governed by regulations put in place in 2018. It was designed to increase awareness of energy costs within organisations, provide data to inform the adoption of energy efficiency measures and to help organisations to reduce their impact on climate change. They also seek to provide greater transparency for stakeholders, though this has since been expanded by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
Captured companies report on Scope 1, Scope 2 and limited Scope 3 emissions, alongside total energy use kWh. These are reported against an intensity metric suitable for the organisation. If available, the prior year’s data should be presented as a comparison point and a description of the energy efficiency measures undertaken in year must be given and the methodology used must be included.
Data is generally presented at high level to be published in company accounts, however additional voluntary disclosures may be calculated and published elsewhere or utilised internally.
Companies must report under SECR if they are Quoted (listed on the UK stock exchange) or are Unquoted and meet 2 or more of the following criteria:
turnover (or gross income) of £36 million or more
balance sheet assets of £18 million or more
250 employees or more
There is an exemption for low emission companies who do not consume more than 40,000kWh of energy in a reporting period.
Where you are captured by SECR, this should be the first step on your Carbon Accounting journey. Carbon reporting can be improved in two ways, quantity of scope reported, and quality of underlying data. For some companies where will be a need for a Carbon Reduction Plan in line with government tendering requirements in addition to SECR, and we can assist with discussing more detailed voluntary reporting if this is of interest.
