Compare Your Footprint — Carbon Intelligence Platform

The UK government published its formal evaluation of the SECR framework in January 2026 and the conclusion is blunt: SECR's impact is “diminishing over time,” it is “increasingly considered a compliance-based exercise,” and international frameworks are “considered more strategic and forward-looking.” Read alongside the February 2026 publication of UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS), this amounts to a transition signal — not yet a mandate, but clear enough that businesses planning their reporting framework for the next three to five years should be paying attention.

Why the SECR transition matters to your business

SECR — Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting — has required qualifying large UK companies to report energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions since 2019. If your company reports under SECR today, nothing changes immediately. The framework remains in force, and the government has not announced a specific end date.

What has changed is the direction of travel. The DESNZ evaluation, which examined SECR's impact from 2019 to 2024, found that energy savings of 4.5–6.2% were achieved in SECR's early years — but that those savings have plateaued. The statutory post-implementation review that the evaluation is designed to inform will almost certainly result in reform, and the publication of UK SRS gives that reform a clear destination.

For businesses that use SECR as their primary reporting framework, the practical question is: when do we start planning the transition, and what does that transition actually involve?

⚖️ Regulatory note: UK SRS has been available for voluntary use from 25 February 2026. The FCA is consulting on mandatory adoption for listed companies from 1 January 2027. SECR remains mandatory for qualifying large UK companies in the interim. A statutory review of SECR is expected but no phase-out date has been announced.

What UK SRS requires — and how it differs from SECR

SECR focuses primarily on energy consumption (gas, electricity, transport fuel) and the associated Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, expressed in tonnes of CO₂e. It requires a year-on-year intensity ratio and a brief narrative on energy efficiency actions taken. It is a relatively narrow, energy-focused framework.

UK SRS is aligned with ISSB's IFRS S1 and S2 — the international sustainability disclosure standards that are being adopted across major economies. The scope is considerably broader:

Climate-related financial risks and opportunities. UK SRS requires companies to assess how climate change affects their business model, strategy, and financial planning — not just their energy bill. This is qualitative as well as quantitative.

Governance disclosure. UK SRS requires boards to demonstrate how climate-related issues are overseen and managed. SECR has no equivalent requirement.

Scope 3 emissions. UK SRS E1 (climate) fields include Scope 3 categories — supply chain, purchased goods, downstream use of products, and business travel. SECR only requires Scope 1 and Scope 2, with Scope 3 optional.

Forward-looking targets. UK SRS expects companies to disclose net zero targets, transition plans, and scenario analysis. SECR asks only for what happened in the past year.

The energy consumption data that sits at the core of your current SECR report does not disappear — it maps directly to the Scope 1 and Scope 2 disclosures required under UK SRS. The difference is that UK SRS treats that data as the starting point, not the end point.

Methodology guidance from Alice Roberts, Head of Methodology at Compare Your Footprint.

What the SECR–UK SRS transition looks like in practice

For a company currently completing SECR reports, here is what the transition requires:

1. Scope 3 data collection. This is the largest practical gap. Your SECR report probably does not include supplier emissions, purchased goods and services, or downstream product use. UK SRS will require at least a good-faith estimate of material Scope 3 categories. If your customers are already asking for your Scope 3 data, you are ahead. If not, now is the time to start building that data capability.

2. Governance documentation. Your board will need a documented process for overseeing climate risk. For many SMEs supplying to listed companies, this will first appear as a question on a procurement questionnaire rather than a reporting obligation — but the underlying documentation is the same.

3. Target setting. SECR requires no net zero target. UK SRS requires disclosure of any targets you have set, and — critically — disclosure if you have not set one. Many SMEs have not formalised net zero targets because SECR never required it. Under UK SRS, “no target” is a disclosure, not an omission.

4. Transition planning. UK SRS-aligned reporters are expected to describe how they plan to reduce emissions over time. This goes beyond the brief "energy efficiency measures" narrative in a SECR report.

The good news for companies with solid SECR reporting in place: the underlying energy and Scope 1/2 data is reusable. The transition is about broadening scope and adding depth — not starting again.

Common mistakes companies make when planning for this transition

Waiting for a statutory deadline. The government has not announced a mandatory SECR phase-out date. Companies that wait for a mandate before beginning their UK SRS transition will be the same companies scrambling for Scope 3 data at short notice when their largest customer asks for it.

Treating UK SRS as an enterprise framework. UK SRS is built on ISSB standards that were designed with large listed companies in mind — but the supply-chain cascade means SME suppliers will face UK SRS-aligned data requests from in-scope customers regardless of their own reporting obligations. Understanding what in-scope customers will ask for is the SME's practical starting point.

Assuming their current software is UK SRS-ready. Most tools marketed for SECR compliance were built around energy reporting. UK SRS requires a different data structure — one that captures Scope 3 categories, governance processes, and forward-looking targets. Before assuming your current tool handles this, check whether it maps outputs to UK SRS E1 disclosure fields.

How CYF helps with the SECR to UK SRS transition

CYF is built around UK frameworks — DEFRA/DESNZ conversion factors, SECR reporting requirements, and UK SRS data fields — rather than adapted from US or enterprise tools. The platform captures the energy and fuel data that drives your SECR report and structures it in a way that maps directly to the Scope 1 and Scope 2 fields required under UK SRS.

For the Scope 3 gap, CYF's benchmark dataset means you can see how your emissions compare to other businesses in your sector — not just your own year-on-year change. This gives you a credible starting point for estimating material Scope 3 categories even before you have full supplier data.

CYF's output format is designed to answer the questions your customers — and eventually your own disclosure obligations — will ask. If you are working with a sustainability consultant on the transition, they may already use CYF; it is designed to let consultants manage multiple client accounts from one dashboard.

To understand how your current carbon data maps to UK SRS fields, start a free trial or book a demo — or read our guide to UK SRS for SME suppliers.

Sources: SECR Evaluation Report, DESNZ, January 2026 · UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, GOV.UK, February 2026 · ICAEW commentary on UK SRS