A Year of Change: UK Environmental Reports and Audits FY 2019-2020

A range of new mandatory environmental reporting obligations apply to UK entities for the first time in the financial year 2019-2020, while compliance obligations remain for the former CRC scheme and voluntary reporting recommendations are gaining in importance. 

Which obligations apply to you?

Determining whether any part of your business or its corporate group is caught by the reporting regimes is not always straightforward and must be considered carefully. Read our briefing here for an overview of how the regimes apply.

Key developments in the financial year 2019-2020 are:

·       certain companies and LLPs must report for the first time in accordance with the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) requirements under the Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018. The requirements are aimed at extending the obligations to monitor emissions and energy usage to all large UK undertakings, harmonising and streamlining reporting to match the financial year, and ultimately to assist companies identify energy efficiency measures to improve energy efficiency by 20 per cent by 2030;

·       the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme closed in April 2019, replaced by the SECR. Enforcement for historic compliance continues, so companies must retain evidence of historic compliance; 

·       the second phase of the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) has closed and companies caught by the scheme should have reported in December 2019. Daily fines apply if you have not reported so, if in any doubt about your compliance, consider engaging specialist consultants. Regulations already in place mean that, as of now, ESOS will not be affected by Brexit; and

·       the UK government has indicated that the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) on climate-related financial reporting are likely to become mandatory within the next two years and companies are encouraged to engage proactively with this framework now.