What is SECR?

What SECR is

SECR — Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting — is a UK regulation that requires large companies and LLPs to disclose their energy use and carbon emissions inside their annual Directors' Report, filed at Companies House alongside their accounts. It was introduced by the Companies (Directors' Report) and LLP (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018.

What you must disclose

A standard SECR disclosure includes:

• UK energy consumption for the year, in kWh (electricity, gas and transport fuel)
• Scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse-gas emissions, in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e)
• An intensity ratio — emissions against a metric you choose, such as tCO₂e per £M turnover
• A narrative covering the methodology used and the energy-efficiency actions taken in the year

Quoted companies report their global energy and emissions; large unquoted companies and LLPs report their UK figures.

Who it applies to

SECR applies to all quoted companies, and to large unquoted companies and LLPs that meet two of three thresholds — £36M turnover, £18M balance sheet, or 250 employees. These thresholds did not rise in the April 2025 company-size uplift, so a company now classed as medium-sized can still be in scope. See who needs SECR, or check in 30 seconds with the eligibility checker.

Deadlines and penalties

SECR is filed on the same deadline as your accounts — 9 months after year-end for private companies, 6 months for public companies. Leaving the disclosure out is a criminal offence under the Companies Act. See SECR deadlines and SECR penalties.

How to comply

Gather your energy data, calculate scope 1 and 2 emissions using the current DEFRA conversion factors, choose an intensity ratio, write the narrative, have your directors sign it off, and file it in the Directors' Report. Most companies hand this to a specialist to get it right first time and hit the deadline.