If you are looking to become a more sustainable business, knowing your footprint and understanding where it comes from are essential in order to track your progress.
SECR, or Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting, is a U.K. scheme to standardise the reporting of emissions and energy usage. Introduced in 2019, it is mandatory for all large companies and those listed on the stock exchange.
However, any sized company can use it to learn more about their environmental impact. It is also likely that this legislation will be changed in the future to incorporate more, if not all, companies in the U.K.
Through Play it Green’s partnership with EaaSi Carbon, you can measure your business’s carbon footprint both historically and currently with SECR ‘Scope’ 1, 2, or 3.
These ‘Scopes’ are used to divide the emissions by their sources and how responsible the company is for them. Scope 1 emissions, for example, are those under your direct control. For most businesses, this will be the fuel used by your owned/leased vehicle fleet and also includes emissions from any other fossil fuels used (such as your gas supply for heating offices or warehouses).
Scope 2 emissions are those which result from the electricity (and heat or steam) a company buys. These are treated separately from Scope 1 because the emissions actually take place ‘off-site’.
Both Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are considered to be under the control of the reporting company (in this case, your business). Therefore, they are the minimum requirement for acceptable Green House Gas (GHG) reporting under the Defra/DCC company reporting guidelines for SECR.
There are also Scope 3 emissions, which are all others not under a company’s direct control, but which it nevertheless may want to count to understand its total climate impact (or the impact of a particular product).
Examples of Scope 3 emissions include, for example, business mileage claimed by an employee or contractor. It also includes the emissions from the products and services you buy from third parties to run your business or create your products/services (i.e. supply chain emissions).
In this way, Scope 3 emissions are essentially a percentage of the Scope 2 emissions of your third-party suppliers.
From SMEs to larger businesses, EaaSi Carbon provides cost-effective reporting that is not reliant on switching your energy. Through their partnership with us at Play it Green, we can also offer you the chance to rebalance your company’s historical and current carbon footprint to become completely carbon neutral.
On top of that, we can also help you reduce your overall business footprint moving forward by working with our Net Zero Framework (free to access for all Play it Green business members), Green Energy, and our network of sustainability experts.