Large Businesses – Over 250 Employees

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for organisations in the UK that meet the qualification criteria. It requires large companies to report on energy efficiency measures and plan for continuous improvement, submitting ESOS assessments to the regulator. These must be overseen by an ESOS assessor.

See DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) guidance to check if your organisation qualifies.

Source: Government Guidance

Organisations making claims that a product, service, brand or business provides a benefit or is less harmful to the environment must align with the Green Claims Code. This is a set of guidance published by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to avoid greenwashing and misleading customers. Organisations should be careful to consider the full life cycle of products before making claims.

As a follow-on to the CMA’s Green Claims guidance, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has released guidance on the use of carbon neutral and net zero claims in advertising. This reflects research which found a lack of understanding among consumers regarding the meaning of the terms ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon neutral’ but also a high prevalence of these terms, leading to high potential for consumers to be misled. The new CAP guidance sets out steps advertisers should take to ensure they do not use unqualified claims and that claims are clearly explained with a company’s approach – for example, disclosing whether offsets are used.

Source: Government Guidance

From February 2022 it is has been mandatory for publicly quoted companies, large private companies and LLPs to report on their climate-related risk in line with the recommendations of the global Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

See DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) guidance to check if your organisation qualifies.

Source: Government Guidance

It is mandatory for quoted companies, large unquoted organisations and large limited liability partnerships (LLPs) to disclose environmental performance information through company filings. “Large businesses” are defined as companies exceeding two or more of the following criteria within a financial year; 250+ employees; an annual turnover of £36m, or an annual balance sheet total of £18m.

At a minimum, large unquoted companies and LLPs will be required to report on UK energy use and emissions from gas, electricity, and transport. Unquoted companies must publish global GHG emissions from activities for which the company is responsible and global energy use.

For all three organisation types, figures must be provided the previous year (if applicable), along with at least one intensity ratio or normalisation factor (e.g. CO2e / m2 of floorspace, or per employee), as well as a narrative around measures taken for emission reduction and details of the methodology used.

Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/850130/Env-reporting-guidance_inc_SECR_31March.pdf