When new regulations appear, the response of the business sector can be to bemoan additional workloads, potential extra costs or worrying punitive elements associated with non-compliance.
In the frenetic corporate world, this is understandable. Nonetheless, casting a weather eye over the advantages of SECR reporting, legislation nearly always offers up some worthy reasons for positivity.
Legislation nearly always offers up some worthy reasons for positivity
The SECR opportunity
Energy managers tasked with running SECR are no doubt braced for more work, but against this BEIS states SECR will deliver benefits of £1,549m from 2019 to 2035.
BEIS states SECR will deliver benefits of £1,549m from 2019 to 2035
That comes to £96.8m a year; no small sum by any measure. And there are additional positives too.
ENDS REPORT analysis shows further reasons for the sector to celebrate. Seemingly, SECR will result in energy savings with a net present value of around £2.9bn, with carbon savings and additional benefits to air quality and noise taking the total to some £3.6bn.
There is leeway in all these figures; everyone does their maths differently and uses a different metric.
But ENDS reckons it all equates to saving 800,000t of CO2 per year, or about 0.17% of 2016 emissions. And even when using what the government response describes as pessimistic assumptions, closing the CRC, increasing the CCL and introducing SECR would still be worth another £700m overall.
So that’s the financial side done and dusted; SECR is going to help UK business and competitiveness. But there is a great deal else that will impact on an uplifted business bottom line.
Reputational gains
SECR reporting will build greener business. Industry magazine GreenBiz writes that as consumers become increasingly aware of the effects their choices have on the environment, and ethical consumption continues to grow as a hot topic, a brand’s reputation for sustainability is of paramount importance.
Some 79% of corporate executives found a strengthened brand reputation to be one of the most significant business benefits for their company.
So, if you embrace SECR, what does it give you? Solid evidence on your positive green impacts. And, by association, a greener more sustainable business that consumers connect with.
SECR gives you solid evidence on your positive green impacts
Energy cost savings
This is an obvious point; SECR is designed to shine a light on inefficiency – and, if areas of wastage are acted upon, it will save firms money by saving energy. It’s that simple. When you measure your energy use and manage it, your usage falls. That impacts massively on the bottom line.
Supply chain advantages
This is a relatively new, crucial element SECR can help with. Increasingly, big business is looking further and further down the supply chain, and even trying to report on how supplier energy usage impacts on the top level firm’s CO2 impacts.
So when you can offer up transparent, positive analysis on your energy and carbon impacts, you are enabling the world’s largest firms to employ you through greener procurement at the highest level.
Embrace the challenge; love the opportunities
There are many additional advantages to embracing SECR which we will return to in other analysis on the Hub, but the upshot right now is simple.
Yes: SECR is a challenge, and yes it will require work. But given the opportunities, embracing it will pay out business dividends very quickly, which will impact on long term UK business futures too.
Those businesses affected need to think positive. This is not just another acronym: SECR can be your friend.
When new regulations appear, the response of the business sector can be to bemoan additional workloads, potential extra costs or worrying punitive elements associated with non-compliance.
In the frenetic corporate world, this is understandable. Nonetheless, casting a weather eye over the advantages of SECR reporting, legislation nearly always offers up some worthy reasons for positivity.
