Use case · SECR
SECR datasets fail assurance for the same reason every year.
Not because the numbers are wrong, but because nobody can prove how they were produced. Sustainify AI structures SECR around versioned UK GHG Conversion Factors, stores every calculation run, and locks the period when it closes.
What Sustainify AI delivers
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, including WTT and T&D losses
Energy consumption in kWh and emissions in tCO2e
Intensity ratios against floor area, revenue or headcount denominators
Full calculation lineage from reported figure back to source
Period locking, so the prior year does not move
An audit pack carrying factor versions, run IDs and lock timestamps.
FY 2023/24
Closed
sealed 30 Jun 2025 09:41 · A. Rehman · sha 9f2c41a
Incoming write
UPDATE entry 4471
495.03 → 488.10 tCO2e
Not from an import, not from a spreadsheet, not from an administrator in a hurry.
FY 2024/25
Open
accepting writes until the period is closed
Incoming write
UPDATE entry 4471
495.03 → 488.10 tCO2e
Logged with the previous value, the new one, the person and the minute.
- UK GHG Conversion Factors
- SECR
- GHG Protocol
- AR5 GWPs
- ISO 14064
Questions
SECR, answered
Which companies have to report under SECR?
Quoted companies, and large unquoted companies and LLPs that meet at least two of three thresholds: turnover of £36m or more, a balance sheet total of £18m or more, or 250 or more employees. Quoted companies report global Scope 1 and 2; large unquoted companies and LLPs report UK energy use and associated emissions.
Does SECR require third-party assurance?
No. SECR does not mandate external assurance of the emissions figures, unlike the audit of the financial statements they sit alongside. Many companies obtain it anyway, because the disclosure is in the directors’ report and carries the same accountability as everything else in it.
What has to be disclosed?
Energy use in kWh, associated greenhouse gas emissions, at least one intensity ratio, the methodology used, and the comparable figures for the previous year. The methodology statement is the one most often treated as boilerplate, and the one an assurance provider reads first.
Which conversion factors should be used?
The UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for the reporting year in question. They are republished annually and can be revised within a year, so the version matters: two organisations reporting identical activity data can arrive at different totals purely because they imported the set on different dates.
What happens to last year’s figure when a factor is revised?
In most systems it silently changes, because the figure is recalculated with whatever factor set is current when the report is opened. Sustainify AI pins the factor set to the reporting period that used it and locks the period when it closes, so a prior-year figure stays what it was and any restatement is deliberate and recorded.
Can SECR reporting be handled in a spreadsheet?
It can, and most first submissions are. The difficulty is not the arithmetic but the second year onwards: reproducing how a figure was reached, showing which factor version priced it, and explaining a movement to somebody who was not there when the model was built.
How long does an implementation take?
That depends on how your data arrives rather than on the software. Estates where consumption comes from a handful of portals and spreadsheets move quickly; estates with building management systems and metering across many sites are connected as part of an onboarding engagement rather than by self-service.
What if some buildings have no meter data at all?
They are reported as estimated and marked as such, rather than being quietly filled in. Coverage is tracked as a measured-versus-estimated ratio per asset, so the gaps are visible before a submission rather than discovered during one.