Work with Consultus to accurately monitor and report on standards and compliance to verify your net zero journey: understand the impact of renewables and carbon reduction measures, and submit the necessary evidence.
Whether you’re an RE100 organisation seeking ISO certification and accreditation, an SME subject to building and asset regulations, or a local school playing your part in carbon reduction, we help you turn these rules and requirements into a positive force for improvement.
Whether it’s organisation-level compliance or asset certification, our services will help you track your progress and report on your net zero journey. Working with Consultus means you can deal with all necessary statutory, legislative and voluntary requirements on emissions, energy efficiency and buildings, to make measurable gains, avoid financial penalties and reduce administrative burdens.
Strategic compliance and reporting includes:
- Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)
- Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR)
- Climate Change Agreements Scheme (CCA)
- Greenhouse Gas Reporting (GHG)
- European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS)
Asset accreditation and building standards include:
- Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance (CHPQA)
- Building Regulations Part L Compliance
- CIBSE TM44 – Air Conditioning Inspections
We can align your mandatory emissions reporting and compliance activity with Energy Bureau and Energy Reduction services to deliver an end-to-end approach to demand reduction, environmental impacts and funded energy reduction programmes to help you move towards net zero faster.
The Net Zero Pathway is a great starting point, providing customised options and indicative costs based on your set-up, preferences and time lines. We can also talk you through the various options and services.
Organisations of all sizes are being asked to commit to tackling climate change and reducing their carbon emissions towards net zero. Whoever and wherever you are, this is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’.
However, you may not know where to start, particularly if you’re an SME, micro business or other smaller organisation, perhaps under a local authority, and with limited inhouse resources. We can help simplify your journey towards net zero: we offer an easy-to-use personalised online dashboard to monitor and report on your progress and to work towards the Future Net Zero® (FNZ) Standard.
We can help you to benchmark, measure and certify your organisation’s carbon footprint, engaging with your employees and sharing your progress and milestones with all stakeholders.
The FNZ Standard is aligned with the United Nations’ Race to Zero, the global campaign designed to rally leadership and support for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery: “Unlike most races, it won’t have one winner… Winning it requires a radical, unprecedented level of collaboration, from all corners of our world. This is not about 2050, it’s about today.”
We can help you take major steps towards a lower carbon future and your annual certification. The Consultus FNZ dashboard is:
- Fast to set up and easy to get started.
- The simplest way to calculate, report and so start reducing your carbon emissions.
- Understand the underlying detail so you can target positive action in the right places.
- Track and share your progress with all stakeholders as required.
- Build new carbon reduction projects via the dashboard.
- Directly involve employees and others in your net zero efforts
We help you meet your obligations for this mandatory energy assessment and energy saving identification scheme, which applies to large undertakings and their corporate groups.
ESOS applies throughout the UK and is likely to impact 10,000 businesses. An ESOS audit is designed to identify cost-effective energy savings, reduce carbon emissions and help to enhance your profitability and competitiveness.
Enforcement and scope
The scheme is enforced and various penalties can be applied. Your business is affected if, on the 31st December 2022, you:
- Employ 250 people or more
- Have an annual turnover greater than €50m and a balance sheet exceeding €43m
- Are part of a corporate group which includes a UK based large undertaking
For the third compliance period audits, ESOS activity must be completed by 5th June 2024 and repeated every four years.
What you need to do – and how we can help
- Measure your total energy consumption.
- Conduct a proportionate number of energy audits to identify cost-effective energy efficiency recommendations.
- Report compliance to the appropriate agency.
Energy Audit
You need to look at your organisation’s entire energy usage including buildings, transport and industrial and commercial processes. Once overall energy consumption is identified, 10% (de minimis) can be excluded. An ESOS audit must be carried out or overseen by a recognised Lead Assessor and reviewed by a board level director.
The UK’s regulators for ESOS
- The Environment Agency for organisations whose registered office is in England.
- Natural Resources Wales for organisations whose registered office is in Wales.
- Northern Ireland Environment Agency for organisations whose registered office is in Northern Ireland.
- Scottish Environment Protection Agency for organisations whose registered office is in Scotland.
- Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for organisations whose activities consist wholly or mainly of offshore activities.
We can help you meet the requirements of SECR – and use it as a force for transformative change.
The SECR framework on the public disclosure of carbon and energy use applies to all quoted companies and large UK incorporated unquoted companies. It followed the closure of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, applies throughout the UK and is likely to impact 12,000 businesses.
This mandatory reporting should align with best practice in the UK and internationally. Through the SECR framework, we can provide you with visibility and clarity for your energy usage and emissions, providing the right data and insights to help you adopt the necessary energy efficiency measures to achieve your carbon reduction goals.
Enforcement and scope
Businesses have been required to implement SECR for financial years beginning on or after 1st April 2019, with reporting deadlines depending on the company’s current financial reporting period.
The scheme is enforced. The Conduct Committee of the Financial Reporting Council is responsible for monitoring compliance of company reports and accounts with relevant reporting requirements. This committee can: enquire into cases where it appears that relevant disclosures have not been provided; and apply to the court for a declaration that the annual report of accounts do not comply with the requirements.
Reporting requirements
Quoted companies need to:
- Report on total annual global energy use and global emissions (Scope 1 and 2 emissions).
- Publish an intensity metric within the annual report.
- Report on any energy efficiency measures put in place within the company.
- Report previous years’ energy use and GHG emissions (except in the first year).
- Methodologies used in calculation of disclosures.
Large UK Companies and LLPs need to:
- Report on your total UK annual energy use and associated emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions).
- Publish an intensity metric within the annual report
- Report on any energy efficiency measures put in place within the company.
- Report previous years’ energy use and GHG emissions (except in the first year).
- Methodologies used in calculation of disclosures.
N.B. Scope 3 emissions associated to business travel in rental cars or employee-owned vehicles where they are responsible for purchasing fuel. Other Scope 3 emissions are voluntary.
This scheme enables eligible energy-intensive sectors to gain a reduction on the Climate Change Levy (CCL) in return for committing to energy efficiency targets. An important tool on your net zero journey, we can help you benefit from these voluntary agreements with the Environment Agency.
CCA aim to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions, providing a financial incentive to UK industry. They were established to enable eligible sectors to reduce the cost of the Climate Change Levy, a tax added to energy and gas bills, in return for committing to pre-determined energy efficiency targets.
- CCA are available for a range of sectors and industry types including agriculture, manufacturing, engineering, chemicals, paper and supermarkets.
- Organisations that hold a CCA can reduce CCL costs by 92% on electricity bills, and 81% on gas and other fuels.
How we can help
- Our expert team includes Carbon Consultants and experienced Data Analysts.
- We work alongside you to develop a robust CCA application.
- We then submit the application.
- Following review and approval of an application, we complete and submit the forms required to enable relief on CCL charges.
How the CCA scheme works
The current CCA scheme will run until 31 March 2025. There are 2 types of CCA: umbrella agreements and underlying agreements.
The UK government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change and industry sectors negotiated energy efficiency targets for each sector: the sector commitment. Targets were included in umbrella agreements held between sector associations and the Environment Agency. Umbrella agreements also list the processes eligible for a CCA. In 2020, new targets were negotiated for 2021 and 2022.
An operator with a CCA must measure and report its energy use and carbon emissions against agreed targets over two-year target periods.
Visit UK government information and check your eligibility
We can help you to carry out effective GHG reporting to meet the various different criteria and requirements.
The UK government brought in mandatory carbon reporting in 2013. This required all UK companies listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange to report their GHG emissions annually. This was superseded by the Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR) framework.
In addition, the ISO 14064 standards for GHG accounting and verification provide government and industry with integrated initiatives targeted at reducing GHG gas emissions and for emissions trading.
The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol provides standards, guidance, tools and training for organisations to measure and manage climate warming emissions. A partnership between the World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the protocol establishes comprehensive global standardised frameworks to measure and manage GHG emissions from private and public sector operations.
More than 90% of Fortune 500 companies reporting to the CDP global environmental disclosure system use the GHG Protocol.
The EU ETS was the first large greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading scheme in the world and remains the biggest.
A UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) replaced the UK’s participation in the EU ETS on 1st January 2021. The four governments of the UK established the scheme “to increase the climate ambition of the UK’s carbon pricing policy, whilst also protecting the competitiveness of UK businesses.” However, the UK government requires organisations to continue to comply with their existing obligations under the 2020 scheme year, which ends on 30 April 2021.
UK government information on participating in the UK ETS
Under the “cap and trade” principle, a cap (maximum) is set on the total amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by installations participating in the EU ETS. EU allowances for emissions are auctioned off (or allocated for free) and can then be traded.
Installations need to monitor and report their emissions, and ensure they submit enough allowances to the authorities to cover the emissions they make. If emission is more than what is allowed by its allowances, the installation needs to buy allowances from others. On the other hand, if an installation performs well at bringing down its emissions, it can sell its leftover credits. In this way, the system aims to find the most cost-effective ways to reduce emissions without requiring significant government interventions.
UK government information on EU ETS
Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance (CHPQA)
Simultaneous generating heat and power in a single process is one of the most cost-effective ways to make carbon savings, and so plays a role in achieving net zero targets. The CHPQA is a voluntary government initiative that provides a practical way to monitor, assess and improve the quality all types and sizes of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) schemes in the UK.
Under the scheme, CHP schemes are assessed on the basis of energy efficiency and environmental performance, ensuring fiscal benefits are in line with real-life environmental performance.
How we can help:
Our expert team will support you in achieving successful CHPQA certification, from programme registration onwards. Successful certification can grant eligibility to a range of benefits including:
- Renewable Obligation Certificates.
- Renewable Heat Incentive.
- Carbon Price Floor (heat) relief.
- Climate Change Levy (CCL) exemption.
- Enhanced Capital Allowances.
- Preferential business rates.
Building Regulations Part L Compliance
The Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) is the UK government standard assessment procedure used to calculate the energy required to heat, cool, ventilate and light a building. Such assessments are important to demonstrate compliance with Part L of the Building Regulations, and to produce Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs).
How we can help:
Our experts perform SBEM Assessments using building and energy modelling software to demonstrate the energy performance of new and existing buildings. The calculations we provide and the resulting report show compliance or otherwise with sustainability building regulations, ensuring standards are met.
CIBSE TM44 – Air Conditioning Inspections
Air conditioning (AC) inspections are a legal requirement in the UK under the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations (EPBR). The objective is to improve the energy efficiency of commercial and public buildings, reduce carbon emissions and bring down running costs. Such inspections can contribute to your net zero journey.
How we can help:
If your organisation has a total installed air conditioning capacity of 12kW or more, it must be inspected to ensure it meets performance standards. Our experts are accredited CIBSE AC Inspectors and fully qualified to conduct detailed assessments of your systems.
Other sustainability services
- DSM Assessments for complex buildings
- Standard Assessment Procedures (SAPs) and Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)
- Display Energy Certificates (DECs)
- TM52, TM59 & BB101 Overheating Compliance Reports
- Daylighting Reports
- BREEAM assessments
