The UK Government has announced its plans for the new Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) regulations to take effect in 2019.

The new mandatory reporting framework will replace the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC EES) and extend the scope of the existing Mandatory Carbon Reporting (MCR) regulations for listed companies to all large organisations. You can find the government’s full response on their website.

The SECR is designed to streamline and reduce complexity in the carbon and energy reporting landscape as well as broaden the scope for reporting compliance. This will mean almost a seven-fold increase in the number of companies required to comply with energy and carbon reporting legislation.

SECR Highlights
All large* quoted and unquoted companies, as defined by the Companies Act 2006, will have to comply with the new energy and carbon reporting framework from April 2019. To reduce the additional burden on reporting companies it is expected that the figures will be published in Annual Reports, alongside financial data.

Companies using 40,000 kWh or less of energy in the 12-month reporting period will be exempt, as will those unquoted companies where ‘it is not practical to obtain information’.

For greenhouse gas emissions, Scopes 1 and 2 will be required with Scope 3 reporting remaining voluntary. For the GHG calculations, details of the methodology and a suitable carbon intensity metric is also needed.

Energy in the scope of the new SECR legislation includes all UK electricity, gas, and transport (road, rail, air and shipping) energy use.

* Large companies are those where two or more of the following criteria hold true for the reporting period:

• More than 250 employees
• An annual turnover greater than £36m
• An annual balance sheet greater than £18m