The Benefits of Environmental Compliance: Making the Most of SECR and ESOS

However, this type of environmental reporting legislation does far more than simply keeping your business compliant. Offering a Scope 1 and Scope 2 Carbon Footprint and a list of proposed recommendations to improve energy efficiency, SECR and ESOS are a fantastic place to begin when it comes to making your organisation more sustainable. GEP Environmentalorganisations achieve compliance – and use that information to achieve their wider sustainability goals while driving organisational efficiency.

What should your business know about SECR and ESOS?

SECR: What You Need to Know

SECR is a mandatory reporting requirement for all large organisations in the UK that meet 2 of the 3 following criteria:

• more than 250 employees,
• an annual turnover of greater than £36M
• an annual balance sheet in excess of £18M

SECR compliance has many benefits – it’s one of the most efficient ways to kickstart a sustainability journey. An analysis of your carbon emissions performed via desktop, meaning it can be performed without any noticeable impacts to your business.

What should your organisation know about SECR reporting?

• It provides a carbon footprint with a Scope 1 and Scope 2 boundary: many organisations begin their sustainability journey with environmental compliance, and for good reason – the information gained in a compliance exercise is often more than enough to undertake additional activity.
• Regulations are changing: as environmental science becomes more organisations explore the impact of upstream and downstream (otherwise known as Scope 3) emissions. While SECR only currently requires organisations to report on Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, changes are anticipated that will require organisations to incorporate Scope 3 emissions into their submission.

It is important to keep up to date with regulatory changes to ensure ongoing compliance.

ESOS: What You Need to Know

The Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory requirement for all large organisations in the UK with more than 250 employees, or an annual turnover of greater than £44,000,000 and an annual balance sheet in excess of £38,000,000. The deadline for compliance is 5th June 2024. The good news? ESOS has benefits that go beyond just compliance, adherence is one of the easiest ways to improve operational capability, increase efficiency and take your sustainability efforts to the next level.

What should your organisation know about ESOS reporting?

• Cost Reduction: the average reduction in annual energy costs through energy management improvement is 20% - a significant number for your organisation’s bottom line.
• Efficiency Improvements: the type of energy efficiency investments typically sees a 48% return, compared to 12% on a regular business investment.
• Increase Staff Satisfaction: 65% of employees are more likely to work for a company with robust environmental policies.

Our team of experienced energy engineers, including a number of qualified ESOS Lead Assessors, are able to provide turnkey support for your ESOS submission. ell-planned, easily implementable energy efficiency measures can have on an organisation’s overhead costs, resulting in an ESOS audit that lays the foundations for a more efficient business.

Beyond Compliance

Decarbonisation activities to maximise your compliance efforts:

• Creating a comprehensive or refreshing an existing Net Zero Strategy: a Net Zero Strategy is the perfect way to show customers that your organisation means business when it comes to sustainability.
• Considering an energy efficiency upgrade to reduce costs: your ESOS and SECR reports will have already outlined which areas of the business to prioritise, but we can further develop those business cases to make the energy efficiency measures a reality.
• Expanding emissions knowledge into Scope 3: On average Scope 3 emissions account for more than 70% of an organisation’s overall emissions profile. Scope 3 Inventory Assessment is the perfect place to begin tracking these emissionsdetail your organisation’s carbon hotspots.
• Setting Science-Based Targets (SBTs): considered the gold standard of sustainability, SBTs are a great way for organisations to show they mean business when it comes to sustainability. Applying SBTs is one of the fastest ways to improve energy efficiencies and reduce overhead costs.

GEP Environmental’s team of experts has experience supporting organisations achieve SECR and ESOS compliance, and utilising these results to drive wider sustainability and Net Zero ambitions.

For more information, get in touch today.

This article is also featured on BBP Media.