What the study found
WBCSD's Reporting Matters 2026 review, as Stuart Stone reported for BusinessGreen, looked at the published sustainability information of 194 of its member companies across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Setting targets is now almost universal: 97% disclose targets for their material topics, and 94% report performance over more than one year.
The gap is in what comes next. Only 33% clearly report whether each target is on track, with a progress update against it. Fewer than half, 45%, transparently explain poor performance during the year and say what they will do about it. The reasons companies did give for underperformance included market conditions and cost pressure, business expansion and higher output, changes in reporting scope, and supply disruptions.
The same report is behind edie's coverage, in which Matilda Cox reported WBCSD's wider point: reporting has matured, but it is not yet giving boards and investors the information they need for decisions. WBCSD's own framing is that reporting only creates value when someone uses it, and it names customers and procurement teams assessing suppliers as one of those users.
Hvað það þýðir fyrir lítið fyrirtæki
These are large multinationals, so the percentages don't describe UK small firms. But the people reading your carbon figures, whether a public sector buyer scoring your reduction target, a large customer asking about your science-based target or a lender, are asking the same two questions: are you on track, and if not, why not? A target with no progress against it tells them very little. A year where emissions went up, explained plainly, tells them you measure properly and aren't hiding anything.
How to report progress honestly
- Compare against a fixed baseline. Show the baseline year, last year and this year side by side. Our post on choosing a baseline year covers picking one.
- Say whether you are on track. One line per target: the target, where you should be by now, and where you are.
- Explain any rise in a sentence or two. Growth (more staff, more sales, a new site), weather (a cold winter means more heating), or a change in what you count. If the change is a new method, an acquisition or a corrected error, restate the baseline rather than letting it distort the trend.
- Show an intensity figure next to the total. Emissions per employee, per £m turnover or per square metre show whether you are getting more efficient while you grow. SECR already asks large companies for at least one intensity ratio. Keep the absolute figure too: the atmosphere only sees the total.
- Say what you'll do next. The corrective action is what turns a miss into a credible plan.
A worked example: a cold year
An example office used 55,000 kWh of gas and 38,000 kWh of electricity in 2025, with 20 staff. In 2026 it hired 4 people and had a colder winter, so gas rose 20% to 66,000 kWh and electricity to 40,000 kWh. Each year uses its own year's DESNZ factors.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Gas (Scope 1), tCO2e | 10.06 | 12.03 |
| Electricity (Scope 2), tCO2e | 6.73 | 5.24 |
| Total, tCO2e | 16.79 | 17.27 |
| tCO2e á hvern starfsmann | 0.84 | 0.72 |
The total rose 3%, while emissions per employee fell 14%. Notice that electricity emissions went down even though the office used more: the 2026 grid factor is lower, which is not the firm's doing and is worth saying so. An honest note would read: "Gas use rose 20% because of a colder winter and 4 new staff, so our total rose and we are behind our target. Emissions per employee fell. We are fitting heating controls this year and will report the effect next year." That answers both of the reader's questions.
Hvað á að gera núna
- Put last year and this year next to your baseline before you send your next questionnaire answer or Carbon Reduction Plan update.
- Pick one intensity measure and keep it every year.
- Write a short note for every figure that moved by more than a few per cent, including the ones that went the wrong way.
Svona hjálpar Carbon Recycling
The SECR report in Carbon Recycling puts this year next to the previous year, line by line, and works out an intensity ratio per £m turnover, per employee or per square metre, with a space for your energy efficiency narrative. The Carbon Reduction Plan report draws your baseline, your target trajectory and your actual emissions on one chart, and has a baseline notes section for explaining a restatement. Each year is calculated with that year's government factors, so a change in the grid isn't mistaken for your own progress. Before you publish, the free carbon report check flags gaps such as a missing intensity ratio.
