Scope 3 emissions in the UK reporting landscape

Overview

On 26 June 2023, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) issued its inaugural standards for sustainability-related disclosures, including requirements for entities to report their Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The GHG Protocol classifies a company’s emissions into three scopes:

• Scope 1 emissions are the direct emissions from owned or controlled sources
• Scope 2 emissions are the indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy
• Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions, not included in Scope 2, that occur in the value chain of the reporting company

Some of the largest organisations in the UK are currently required to disclose their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in their annual reports in line with the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) framework, but Scope 3 emissions remain largely voluntary. The framework aims to increase awareness of energy costs and emissions within organisations by providing them with data to inform the adoption of energy efficiency measures and help them to reduce their impact on climate change. It also aims to provide greater transparency and consistency of disclosures for investors and stakeholders to enable them to hold businesses to account.

We are seeking stakeholder views on:

• the costs, benefits and practicalities of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions reporting to help inform the government’s decision on whether to endorse the ISSB standards in the UK.
• the current SECR framework to inform a Post-Implementation Review of the policy.

Responses gathered may be shared across government and with the independent UK Sustainability Disclosure Technical Advisory Committee.

UK businesses of all sizes (particularly existing SECR participants), members of the investment community, trade associations, academics and stakeholders with an interest in environmental reporting may be interested in responding.

You can read the consultation document on the GOV.UK page.

What happens next

Responses to this Call for Evidence will be used to inform a Post-Implementation Review of the existing SECR reporting requirements, inform the endorsement of the ISSB standards, and feed into an assessment on if and how the Environmental Reporting Guidelines are updated. We aim to publish the government response to this Call for Evidence within 12 weeks of the closing date.