United Kingdom · statutory

SECR — the UK energy & carbon report, in practice

Since April 2019, large UK companies must publish energy use and emissions in the directors' report — Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (The Companies (Directors' Report) and LLP (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018). It is not a filing you can skip: it sits inside the annual accounts at Companies House.

Turn a saving into a report figure →All reporting guides

Who is in scope

All UK quoted companies, plus large unquoted companies and LLPs meeting two of three thresholds: turnover ≥ £36M, balance sheet ≥ £18M, ≥ 250 employees. Government guidance estimated ~11,900 organisations in scope. Exemption: below 40 MWh/yr energy use (rare for any manufacturer).

The four required disclosures

Disclosure	What it must contain
1. Energy use	UK kWh: electricity, gas, transport fuels (minimum)
2. GHG emissions	Scope 1 & 2 in t CO2e, with methodology (GHG Protocol + UK DESNZ conversion factors)
3. Intensity ratio	Emissions per unit that makes sense for the business — t CO2e per tonne of product, per £M revenue, per hl…
4. Energy-efficiency action	A narrative description of the principal energy-efficiency measures taken in the reporting year

Quoted companies additionally report global energy/emissions and prior-year comparatives.

Inzonex removable modular insulation on industrial equipment

Cut the tonnes at the source

Hot industrial equipment? Cut the heat loss.

Boilers, kilns, heat exchangers, valves and steam lines lose energy continuously. Inzonex makes patented (UK GB2508992.1) removable modular insulation — snap-fastened covers engineered per temperature tier, not generic off-the-shelf jackets:

Up to 90% less heat loss from insulated surfaces
Surface temperature ≤45 °C — touch-safe for workers (EN ISO 13732-1)
6× faster maintenance access than fixed cut-and-weld lagging — unclips and refits in minutes, no destruction
Inspectable — comes off to check for corrosion under insulation, then refits like-new (generic jackets often don't survive removal)
Typical payback under 2 years (some 9–11 months)

See Inzonex process-equipment insulation →Run the savings study

The paragraph nobody has data for — disclosure 4

Disclosures 1–3 are accounting. Disclosure 4 is the one that needs an actual project: "what did you do this year to use less energy?" An insulation survey gives that paragraph its numbers. Example, written the way auditors accept it:

Example wording: "During the year the company insulated 46 previously bare valves and flanges in the steam system with removable modular covers (surveyed to ASTM C680). The measure eliminates an estimated 520 MWh of annual gas use and 95 t CO2e of Scope 1 emissions, with capital payback under two years. The covers are removable, so maintenance access is preserved and the saving is permanent."

Every number in that sentence comes from a survey or the heat-loss calculator — generate yours with the Carbon Savings Certificate tool.

SECR vs ESOS — don't confuse them

Scheme	What it is	Cycle
SECR	Annual public disclosure in the directors' report	Every financial year
ESOS	Energy audit every 4 years + action plan	Phase 4: by 5 Dec 2027

They feed each other: ESOS finds the measures; SECR's disclosure 4 reports the ones you implemented. The same heat-loss figure serves both — ESOS guide →

FAQ

Questions on this topic

Is SECR mandatory and where is it published?

Yes — for quoted and large UK companies/LLPs it is part of the directors' report filed with the annual accounts at Companies House. It is public: customers and journalists read SECR sections.

What counts as an energy-efficiency action under SECR?

Any measure taken in the reporting year that reduces energy use: insulation of bare hot surfaces, steam-trap repairs, LED retrofits, VSDs, heat recovery. Guidance asks for a description of principal measures — companies that write 'none' invite questions from investors and, increasingly, lenders.

Which conversion factors does SECR use?

The UK Government GHG Conversion Factors (DESNZ, updated annually). For 2024: natural gas ≈0.183, grid electricity ≈0.207 kg CO2e/kWh. The certificate tool on this site uses the same published factors.

Does SECR apply to subsidiaries of foreign groups?

UK-registered large subsidiaries are in scope in their own right unless covered by a UK parent's group report. A foreign parent does not exempt the UK entity.

How this page is built: framework facts cite the legal text or official guidance named in each section (SECR: Companies (Directors' Report) Regulations 2018; ESOS: Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme Regulations; CBAM: Regulation (EU) 2023/956; CSRD/ESRS: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772). Savings figures follow ASTM C680 / ISO 12241 — the method behind our public calculators. Published by Inzonex — manufacturer of modular removable insulation (UK Patent GB2508992.1). This is practical guidance, not legal advice. Spotted an error? Tell us.