Reporting basics
Updated
RSS feedWho has to report, choosing and restating a baseline year, and keeping the numbers comparable year to year.
Green loans and sustainability-linked loans: the carbon data lenders ask for
What the Green Loan and Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles (from the LMA, APLMA and LSTA) require, the KPIs and verification involved, and how to be ready without a legal duty.
How to check the flood risk for your business premises (England, Scotland, Wales, NI)
The official flood map for each UK nation, step by step, what the high, medium and low bands mean, and what to record for each site.
SECR in client accounts: an accountant's checklist
A tick list for the SECR section of a client's annual report: who is in scope, the data to collect, what to disclose and what to check.
Plastic Packaging Tax: what it is and how it links to carbon
The 2026 rate, who registers, the April 2027 changes and where plastic packaging sits in your Scope 3 footprint.
Packaging EPR: what small producers have to report
Who counts as a small producer under packaging EPR, what to report by 1 April, the fees, and how the data links to your carbon footprint.
ISO 14064-1 explained: do you need it?
The ISO greenhouse gas inventory standard in plain English: its six categories, how it compares with the GHG Protocol, and when you need it.
ISO 14001 and your carbon footprint
What ISO 14001:2026 and the climate amendment mean for carbon, and how a footprint gives your management system numbers to manage.
B Corp climate requirements for small firms
What B Lab's new Climate Action standards ask of micro, small and medium companies, and when a footprint becomes compulsory.
Intensity ratios: tonnes per employee, per £m or per m²?
What SECR requires, the ratios the government suggests, and a worked example of a growing firm whose total rose while its intensity fell.
Carbon reporting for schools and multi-academy trusts
Climate action plans for every setting, SECR for large academy trusts, DfE's per-pupil ratio and a worked example for a three-school trust.
Carbon reporting for charities and housing associations
SECR for charitable companies, the Charities SORP 2026 sustainability rules, the housing Sustainability Reporting Standard and emissions per home.
What the Green Claims Code means for small business marketing
The CMA's six principles in plain English, the claims small firms get wrong, supplier claims you repeat, and the 10% fines.
Biogenic CO2: wood, biofuels and how to report them
Why CO2 from wood and biofuels stays out of Scope 1, what still counts, and the 2026 factors for pellets, chips and logs.
Global warming potentials: AR5 or AR6?
Which IPCC values the UK government factors use, how AR4, AR5 and AR6 differ, and what to write in your method note.
Why the UK grid gets cleaner every year
The government's UK electricity factor for every year since 2019, why it falls, why it sometimes rises, and what the 2026 method change did.
SECR for LLPs: what's different
Which LLPs must report, the separate energy and carbon report, who approves and signs it, and a worked example.
Nature and biodiversity reporting: TNFD for small firms
What TNFD and the LEAP approach ask, what is and isn't required in the UK, and where nature and carbon reporting overlap.
Climate risk for small suppliers: TCFD without the jargon
Physical and transition risks, the four TCFD pillars, and a one-page answer for a customer's climate risk question.
UK SRS S2: what your big customers will ask suppliers
How UK SRS S2's Scope 3 rules shape the data listed customers ask for, and a checklist for your reply.
Carbon reporting for franchises and multi-site groups
Choosing a boundary, who reports a franchise's emissions, collecting data site by site, and group rules for SECR and PPN 006.
Net zero, carbon neutral, climate positive: what the words mean
What each term means, which standard sits behind it, and what a small firm can safely say.
Insetting vs offsetting
Why a cut made with a supplier or haulier lowers your Scope 3 and a bought credit doesn't, with a worked example.
Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Code: UK credits explained
Pending and verified units, what they cost, how to report them and what you can say after buying them.
Carbon offsets or carbon removals: what a small firm should know
The difference between avoidance credits and removals, why only removals count at net zero, and how either is reported.
Restating your baseline: when you must and how to explain it
When an acquisition, a sale, a better method or an error means recalculating your carbon baseline, and when it doesn't.
Are UK SMEs required to report carbon emissions? The 2026 answer
What the law requires, where tenders and customers make it a condition of winning work, and what is changing.
Do small companies need to do SECR?
Almost never. The three SECR tests, the 2025 size change trap, and who asks small firms for the same figures anyway.
How to pick a baseline year when your records are patchy
Choosing a baseline year you can evidence, filling gaps honestly, and when to recalculate it later.