Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) puts an energy and carbon statement in a company's directors' report. Quoted companies have their own, wider rules. This guide is for unquoted companies, the case most of our customers ask about.
The thresholds. An unquoted company must report in a year in which it exceeds two or more of these:
- turnover over £36 million;
- balance sheet total over £18 million;
- more than 250 employees.
These SECR limits weren't changed by the April 2025 rise in the company size thresholds, so don't use the new medium-company limits here.
The two-year rule. A change only counts once it has lasted. A company that has been under the limits stays exempt in the first year it goes over them, and must report from the second year in a row. A company that has been reporting keeps reporting until it has been under the limits for two years in a row. In its first financial year, a company looks at that year alone. A parent company looks at its group.
The 40,000 kWh exemption. If the company used 40,000 kWh of energy or less in the UK in the year, it doesn't have to give the figures, but the directors' report must say that this is why.
What the statement must contain.
- UK energy use in kWh, covering gas, purchased electricity and transport fuel;
- the emissions from those, in tonnes of CO2e;
- at least one intensity ratio, such as tCO2e per £ million of turnover or per employee;
- the methods used to calculate them;
- the principal energy efficiency measures taken in the year, if any.
When. It goes in the directors' report, filed with the accounts: for a private company, within nine months of the end of the financial year.
Scopterra works out which years you're in scope from your turnover, balance sheet and staff numbers, and writes the statement from the same checked bills as your Carbon Reduction Plan. The SECR statement is included in the Enterprise plan.