Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)

This year will be the second year that large academy trusts have to report in their Trustee’s Report details regarding Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR).

As a reminder, this is optional for smaller Trusts, but mandatory for large Trusts, defined by the Companies Act 2006 section 465 and 466, where they meet 2 or more of the following criteria:

• turnover (or gross income) of £36 million or more,
• balance sheet assets of £18 million or more,
• 250 employees or more.

If you meet these criteria, and your annual energy consumption is over 40,000kWh, then you must report:

• your annual UK energy use (in kWh), as a minimum relating to gas, purchased electricity and transport fuel and associated greenhouse gas emissions (in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e))
• an emissions intensity ratio chosen by the academy trust. Intensity ratios compare emissions data with an appropriate business metric or financial indicator, such as pupil numbers, to allow comparison over time or with other organisations
• the methodologies used to calculate the required information
• a narrative of measures taken to improve energy efficiency in the period of the report. If no measures have been taken, this should be stated
• the prior year equivalent figures are also required to be disclosed for comparison.

It is worth noting, that once you have gone through the effort of calculating your total emissions, most Trusts will then choose to disclose even if falling below the limit. This will be even more so this year due to the increased awareness of climate change as a sector issue.

To complete the disclosures, you must first collect the data on all the energy used, this will include gas, electricity, and transport fuel.

Once the total consumption has been calculated, this must be converted in carbon emissions. The ESFA guidance links to .Gov guidance which has a suggested methodology to convert data to these metrics. These total emissions must then also be reported in an intensity ratio. For ease of comparison between Trusts academy Trusts are encouraged to use tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per pupil. The same ratio should be used for each year to aid comparability.

Top tips for completing this reporting requirement:

• Start early – collate the data from across your estate from meter readings and actual bills. If possible do this across the year (it may even help with purchasing your energy supplies).
• Once calculated, benchmark yourself against other academy trusts from last year. This may give you an idea how your trust performs, and if you should review your estate usages. You could even benchmark across schools in your Trust to ensure that any problem schools are identified. We would recommend that any issues identified are then factored into your estates plan, and either SCA plans or CIF bids.

One final check to complete once you have completed the calculation is to ensure it appears reasonable – the calculations will calculate total kgs of CO2e, but the reporting metric is in tonnes of CO2e. We would typically expect the reporting ration to be in the range of 0.13 to 0.25 tonnes CO2e. If you are outside of this range, we would recommend that you check your calculation.

For further guidance please see Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) for academy trusts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)