SECR reporting template: the structure your report must follow
There is no official SECR form to fill in — but the Environmental Reporting Guidelines set out mandatory content that any format must cover.
This page breaks that content down into the sections a compliant Directors’ Report or Energy and Carbon Report actually needs, so a template built against it holds up to scrutiny.
Further down, a full illustrative worked example shows how those sections read once populated with figures.
What a compliant SECR report contains
The Environmental Reporting Guidelines are the government’s definitive guidance on SECR content, and they specify what must appear in the Directors’ Report (companies) or the Energy and Carbon Report (LLPs), not a specific layout[1].
| Section | Content | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| UK energy consumption | Total kWh used to calculate emissions (electricity, gas, transport fuel) | All qualifying entities |
| Scope 1 & 2 emissions | Greenhouse gas emissions in tCO2e | All qualifying entities |
| Global energy use | Worldwide energy consumption, not just UK | Quoted companies only |
| Scope 3 emissions | Value-chain emissions, where practical to obtain | Quoted companies only |
| Intensity ratio | At least one ratio (e.g. tCO2e per £m revenue) | All qualifying entities |
| Methodology statement | Which calculation methodology and conversion factors were used | All qualifying entities |
| Prior year comparatives | Previous year’s figures, from year two onward | All qualifying entities |
| Energy efficiency narrative | Action taken during the year to improve energy efficiency | All qualifying entities |
A full, illustrative SECR disclosure
Thornfield Precision Ltd is an illustrative large unquoted UK manufacturer, meeting the SECR size test on turnover and employee count.
Its financial year runs to 31 March, so “FY2026” below means the year ended 31 March 2026, with FY2025 as the prior-year comparator required from a company’s second reporting year onward.
UK energy consumption
| Energy source | FY2026 (kWh) | FY2025 (kWh) |
|---|---|---|
| Purchased electricity | 2,150,000 | 2,240,000 |
| Natural gas (site heating) | 1,380,000 | 1,460,000 |
| Transport fuel — owned fleet (diesel) | 410,000 | 395,000 |
| Total UK energy consumption | 3,940,000 | 4,095,000 |
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions
Thornfield calculates its footprint on a financial-control consolidation boundary, applying a location-based method to purchased electricity and the year-appropriate DESNZ conversion factors to each activity-data stream[2], as required under the regulations that created SECR[4].
| Emissions source | Scope | FY2026 (tCO2e) | FY2025 (tCO2e) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gas combustion | Scope 1 | 253 | 267 |
| Owned fleet — diesel combustion | Scope 1 | 103 | 99 |
| Purchased electricity (location-based) | Scope 2 | 323 | 336 |
| Total Scope 1 + Scope 2 | — | 679 | 702 |
Thornfield reports tCO2e per £1m of revenue as its intensity ratio: 11.6 in FY2026 against 12.8 in FY2025.
Absolute emissions fell by roughly 3.3% year on year, and revenue grew, so the intensity ratio improved on both counts — this is the kind of consistent, same-methodology comparison the Environmental Reporting Guidelines are looking for from year two onward.
Methodology statement
“Emissions have been calculated using a financial-control consolidation approach, a location-based method for purchased electricity, and the 2026 UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting published by DESNZ[2] — the correct year-appropriate set for FY2026 activity, given the significant methodology change in this year’s electricity factor.
The reporting period is 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, aligned with the company’s statutory accounts.
There has been no change in methodology or intensity ratio from the prior year.”
Energy efficiency action taken during the year
During FY2026, Thornfield completed an LED lighting retrofit across its two manufacturing sites.
It installed sub-metering on compressed air systems to identify and fix leaks, replaced its two oldest diesel forklifts with electric equivalents, and fitted a voltage optimisation unit at its main site.
Four of its 22 company cars are now electric, up from one the previous year, as part of a phased fleet transition.
SECR report template structure — for your own spreadsheet
Most organisations start their first SECR cycle in a spreadsheet before moving to dedicated carbon reporting software.
A simple sheet built around these columns covers the mandatory content in one place.
| Column | What goes in it | Maps to |
|---|---|---|
| Energy source | Electricity, gas, transport fuel, etc. | UK energy consumption |
| Activity data (kWh/litres) | Raw metered or invoiced quantity for the year | UK energy consumption |
| Conversion factor + year-set | The DESNZ factor applied, and which year’s set | Methodology statement |
| Emissions (tCO2e) | Activity data × factor | Scope 1 & 2 emissions |
| Scope (1/2/3) | Which GHG Protocol scope the row falls under | Scope 1 & 2 emissions |
| Prior-year figure | Same row, previous reporting year | Prior year comparatives |
| Intensity ratio inputs | Revenue, FTEs or output units for the denominator | Intensity ratio |
Once the sheet has more than a handful of sites or Scope 3 categories, the manual reconciliation this structure requires becomes the limiting factor — see the FAQ below on when to move to dedicated software.
Conversion factors and where the data comes from
Activity data — kWh of electricity, litres of fuel, miles travelled — is converted into tCO2e using the official UK government conversion factors, published annually by DESNZ[2].
Using the year-appropriate factor set matters: the 2026 release changed the UK electricity methodology significantly, so a report using stale factors will not be comparable to peers using the current dataset.
For the underlying compliance thresholds — which companies qualify as large and must report — see our SECR thresholds analysis.
For the calculation walkthrough itself, see our SECR carbon reporting guide.
SECR data as the foundation for UK SRS
SECR’s Scope 1 and 2 figures are also the starting point for UK SRS S2 climate disclosures, which layer governance, strategy, scenario analysis and forward-looking targets on top of the same emissions data.
A SECR report built to a consistent, well-sourced structure now reduces the incremental work when broader UK SRS reporting becomes relevant.
SECR reporting template: frequently asked questions
Is there an official SECR reporting template?
No. The government does not publish a fill-in-the-blanks template or mandate a specific format. Instead, the Environmental Reporting Guidelines set out the mandatory content a Directors’ Report (or Energy and Carbon Report for LLPs) must include. Any layout is acceptable provided it contains all the required elements — the structure on this page mirrors those requirements.
What must a SECR report include?
At minimum: UK energy consumption used to calculate emissions, Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions (in tCO2e), at least one intensity ratio, the methodology used for calculations, and prior-year comparison figures (from the second reporting year onwards). Quoted companies must also report global energy use and, where practical, Scope 3 emissions.
Do I need to report Scope 3 under SECR?
Only quoted companies are required to report Scope 3 emissions where practical to obtain, and the guidance gives latitude on which categories to include. Large unquoted companies and LLPs are not required to report Scope 3 under SECR, though many voluntarily disclose material categories to prepare for wider frameworks such as UK SRS.
What intensity ratio should I use?
The Environmental Reporting Guidelines require at least one intensity ratio but do not mandate which one — common choices are emissions per unit of revenue, per FTE employee, or per unit of physical output (for example, per tonne produced). The right ratio is the one that is meaningful for year-on-year comparison within your sector; changing it between reporting years without explanation undermines comparability.
Can I use a spreadsheet template for SECR reporting?
Yes, and many organisations do for their first few reporting years. A spreadsheet works well while data sources are simple. It becomes harder to maintain once multiple sites, business units or Scope 3 categories are added — at that point, dedicated carbon reporting software reduces manual error and produces a stronger audit trail.
Is there an example of a completed SECR disclosure?
We have built one below, using a fictional company, so you can see how the mandatory sections map onto an actual Directors’ Report entry. It is clearly labelled as illustrative — it is not drawn from a real company’s filing, and none of the figures should be copied into a real report. Its purpose is to show the shape a compliant disclosure takes, not to supply numbers.
- Environmental reporting guidelines: including Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting requirements — GOV.UK / Department for Energy Security and Net Zero · The definitive guidance on mandatory SECR content
- UK government conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions — GOV.UK / DESNZ · Official activity-data conversion factors, updated annually
- 2026 post-implementation review of the SECR regulations — Department for Energy Security and Net Zero · Government review of SECR’s costs, benefits and unintended effects
- The Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/1155) — legislation.gov.uk · The statutory instrument that created SECR, inserting Part 7A into Schedule 7 of SI 2008/410