Carbon consultancy · United Kingdom
Carbon consultancy
A carbon consultancy can support inventory preparation, reporting and reduction planning, with the engagement scope determining the actual work.
The short answer
What a carbon consultancy does, in three parts
A carbon consultancy can support inventory preparation, reporting and reduction planning, with the engagement scope determining the actual work.
Module 01 / 03
Inventory
Define emissions boundaries and calculations.
Module 02 / 03
Reporting
Identify the applicable framework and output.
Module 03 / 03
Planning
Connect emissions evidence with reduction decisions.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
A carbon consultancy measures an organisation’s greenhouse gas emissions and turns the result into the figures UK rules ask for.
Three things are sold under the name: carbon footprint consultancy, carbon compliance consultancy and carbon offset strategy.
Each answers to a different instrument, from the GHG Protocol to SECR to the advertising rules, and this page reads them in turn.
A carbon consultancy is a firm whose subject is greenhouse gas emissions: counting them, reporting them and deciding what to do about them.
For a UK corporate emissions engagement, the agreed inventory may follow the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard with appropriate activity, location and period factors, including the UK’s DESNZ conversion factors where applicable.
Compliance and offset advice are built on that inventory, and neither is better than the inventory underneath it.
It is the measurement end of the wider advisory field; target setting is net zero consultancy, and disclosure drafting is the work of a sustainability reporting consultant.
Within the same network, uksrs.org.uk treats carbon consulting as a reference topic, and covers carbon compliance consultancy on its own page.
| Service | Question it answers | Governed by |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon footprint consultancy | How much do we emit, and where? | GHG Protocol; DESNZ factors |
| Carbon compliance consultancy | What must we report, to whom, by when? | SECR; ESOS; PPN 006; FCA rules |
| Carbon offset strategy | What do we do with what is left, and what can we say? | SBTi C12; UK SRS S2 ¶36; CAP; Green Claims Code |
Measurement
Carbon footprint consultancy: the inventory and its file
Boundary, methodology and emission factors need to be agreed before the resulting total can be interpreted.
Module 01 / 03
Boundary
Define entities, activities and consolidation approach.
Module 02 / 03
Method
Match calculation methods to the framework.
Module 03 / 03
Factors
Record source, geography, period and applicability.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
Choice 1
The boundary
Equity share, financial control or operational control.
The GHG Protocol asks for one consolidation approach, applied consistently, and it changes which sites and vehicles count as yours.
Choice 2
The Scope 2 method
Location-based figures use the grid average; market-based figures reflect the contracts you buy.
A disclosure should say which it shows, and an inventory built with both is the safer start.
Choice 3
The factor year
DESNZ publishes a new factor set each year.
The inventory should name the year it used, because a factor change is not a change in performance.
| # | Category | What falls in it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purchased goods and servicesUpstream | Making the goods and services the company buys in the year, other than those counted in categories 2 to 8. |
| 2 | Capital goodsUpstream | Making the long-lived assets bought in the year, such as plant, machinery, vehicles and buildings. |
| 3 | Fuel- and energy-related activities (not included in Scope 1 or 2)Upstream | Extracting, refining and transporting the fuels and energy the company uses, and grid losses — the parts Scopes 1 and 2 leave out. |
| 4 | Upstream transportation and distributionUpstream | Carriage and storage of purchased goods by third parties, and distribution the company pays for. |
| 5 | Waste generated in operationsUpstream | Third-party disposal and treatment of the waste the company’s own operations produce. |
| 6 | Business travelUpstream | Employee travel for work in vehicles the company does not own or control, including rental cars and flights. |
| 7 | Employee commutingUpstream | Employees travelling between home and their place of work. |
| 8 | Upstream leased assetsUpstream | Running assets the company leases in, where they are not already in its Scope 1 or 2. |
| 9 | Downstream transportation and distributionDownstream | Carriage, storage and retail of sold products that the company does not pay for. |
| 10 | Processing of sold productsDownstream | Further processing of intermediate products by the businesses that buy them. |
| 11 | Use of sold productsDownstream | Emissions when customers use the products sold in the year — fuels, vehicles and appliances above all. |
| 12 | End-of-life treatment of sold productsDownstream | Disposal, recycling and treatment of sold products and their packaging at the end of their life. |
| 13 | Downstream leased assetsDownstream | Running assets the company owns and leases out to others. |
| 14 | FranchisesDownstream | Running the franchises a franchisor licenses, where not in its own Scope 1 or 2. |
| 15 | InvestmentsDownstream | Emissions of investees and borrowers attributed to the company’s investments and loans — financed emissions. |
Scope 3 is usually most of a footprint and almost all of its uncertainty.
A first footprint typically screens all fifteen categories on spend data, then measures the few that matter with activity or supplier data; Scope 3 under UK SRS sets out how the standard treats that judgement.
The deliverable that matters is the calculation file, not the total.
A total with no file behind it has to be rebuilt next year, at the same cost, by whoever you hire next.
For a listed company the inventory feeds UK SRS S2, which points to the GHG Protocol for measurement (¶29(a)); this site’s reading of UK SRS S2 sets out what the standard asks.
Compliance
Carbon compliance consultancy: SECR, ESOS, PPN 006 and the FCA rules
An engagement should name the reporting instrument, entity scope and required output rather than promise generic compliance.
Module 01 / 03
SECR
Identify prescribed disclosures and reporting location.
Module 02 / 03
ESOS
Identify qualification, assessment and notification requirements.
Module 03 / 03
UK SRS
Identify applicable sustainability disclosure requirements.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
A compliance engagement starts with the applicable reporting rule and deadline.
SECR
The Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting rules, in force from 1 April 2019 under SI 2018/1155, put energy use, emissions and an intensity ratio in the directors’ report.
A quoted company reports at any size; an unquoted company or LLP reports if it exceeds at least two of £36 million turnover, £18 million balance sheet total and 250 employees (Schedule 7 ¶20B).
The checker beside this text applies that test, including the two-year rule; the full reading is on SECR thresholds, and the method is in the government’s SECR guidance.
ESOS
ESOS asks a large undertaking — at least 250 employees, or turnover above £44 million and a balance sheet above £38 million (Schedule 1) — for a four-yearly energy assessment.
The assessment must be overseen by a lead assessor on an approved register (regulation 12), which is the one credential UK law asks of the person doing this work; the scheme is summarised on the ESOS hub.
PPN 006
A bidder for a central government contract worth more than £5 million a year, including VAT, may be asked for a Carbon Reduction Plan covering Scope 1 and 2 and five Scope 3 categories (Technical Standard).
The five are upstream and downstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, business travel and employee commuting — not the whole of Scope 3.
The FCA’s rules for listed companies
Listed companies in scope report against UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 (PS26/19), with a one-year relief for Scope 3.
UK SRS S1 and S2 are otherwise voluntary, and no private-company threshold has been proposed.
What compliance costs
The only regulator’s figure is the government’s 2026 review of SECR, which found 19,900 companies and LLPs in scope and a total mean ongoing cost of £7,100 a year (DESNZ, 2026).
That is an average across companies of every shape, not a benchmark for a quote.
SECR qualification check · SI 2008/410 Sch 7 ¶20B
- OverTurnover £45m against not more than £36m.
- OverBalance sheet total £22m against not more than £18m — gross assets, no deduction for liabilities.
- WithinEmployees 180 against not more than 250 — a monthly headcount average, not full-time equivalents.
Within only 1 of the three limits this year, so the qualifying conditions are not met. ¶20B(1)(b)(iii): the conditions were met last year and the company was exempt last year — one year over the limits does not bring it in.
Companies Act size, for contrast only: on these figures the company would pass the medium-sized test of two of £54m, £27m and 250 that applies to accounts from April 2025 — a test SECR does not use.
SI 2008/410 Sch 7 ¶20B(1)–(3)A reading of the regulations, not advice on your accounts.
Not modelled: the subsidiary shelter in ¶20A(2), the Companies Act exclusions in s.467, and the 40,000 kWh disclosure relief.
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Residual emissions
Carbon offset strategy consultancy: what credits can and cannot do
A gross inventory, an emissions reduction and a carbon-credit claim answer different questions.
- 1
Inventory
Report defined gross emissions.
- 2
Reduction
Identify actual changes in emissions and activity.
- 3
Claim
Explain credits, residual emissions and the chosen claim framework.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
A carbon offset strategy consultancy advises on the part of the footprint that reductions cannot reach.
Credible practice runs in order: reduce first, then address the residual, then say exactly what was done.
The SBTi does not let credits count toward a science-based target at all (C12); they may neutralise residual emissions at the target date or fund mitigation beyond the target.
A listed company reporting under UK SRS S2 discloses, for any net emissions target, the gross target behind it and the planned use of carbon credits (¶36).
The claim is where the risk sits
UK advertising guidance says marketers should avoid unqualified “carbon neutral” claims and say whether a claim rests on offsetting (CAP AdviceOnline), and the Green Claims Code asks for substantiation.
In the EU, claiming that a product has a neutral or reduced impact on the basis of offsetting has been unlawful since 27 September 2026 (Directive (EU) 2024/825); the UK has no equivalent ban.
The certification routes have moved too: PAS 2060 is withdrawn, and its successor ISO 14068-1:2023 was withdrawn on 11 September 2026 in favour of ISO 14068:2026, published on the same date.
An offset strategy that ends in a claim the company cannot defend has not done its job, whatever the credits cost.
| Rule | What it says about credits |
|---|---|
| SBTi Net-Zero Criteria C12 | Never counted as reductions toward a target |
| UK SRS S2 ¶36(c), (e) | A net target needs its gross target disclosed, and the planned use of credits |
| CAP guidance | Avoid unqualified “carbon neutral” or “net zero”; say if offsetting is involved |
| Green Claims Code | Claims truthful, clear and substantiated |
| Directive (EU) 2024/825, point 4c | Offset-based product neutrality claims unlawful in the EU from 27 Sep 2026 |
The decision
Carbon consultancy or in-house: where each earns its keep
The appropriate balance of internal and external work depends on data ownership, skills, complexity and the required evidence.
Module 01 / 03
Internal team
Own source records and business decisions.
Module 02 / 03
Specialist
Supply agreed methodological or technical support.
Module 03 / 03
Handover
Retain calculations, assumptions and a repeatable process.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
| Fact about you | Points to a consultancy | Points to in-house or software |
|---|---|---|
| Boundary | Several entities, joint ventures, leased sites | One entity, owned sites |
| Scope 3 | Material and unmeasured | Screened already, or small |
| Deadline | A tender or first reporting year this quarter | A recurring annual cycle |
| Assurance | Planned, and no audit trail yet | Not planned, or the trail exists |
One possible division of work combines: outside help for the first footprint, then an internal owner with software for subsequent updates.
That only works if the first contract hands over the calculation file, the method notes and the data templates; the platforms are compared on carbon management software.
If year two costs the same as year one, nothing transferred.
Due diligence
How to choose a carbon consultancy, in six questions
A proposal should make the evidence, responsibilities and limits of the engagement clear before a fee is agreed.
Module 01 / 03
Method
Identify boundaries, factors and calculation approach.
Module 02 / 03
Deliverables
Specify reports, working files and review records.
Module 03 / 03
Limits
Identify exclusions, reliance and assurance arrangements.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
- Which consolidation approach do you recommend, and will the boundary memo record the alternatives?
- Which DESNZ factor year will the inventory use, and will the file name it?
- Which Scope 3 categories will be measured, screened or excluded, and on what evidence?
- Will we receive the working calculation file and the method notes?
- For SECR, will the figures be prepared for the directors’ report wording, including the intensity ratio and energy efficiency narrative?
- If credits are proposed, which claim will they support, and how is that claim qualified?
Ask two or three firms to quote the same written scope, and compare the deliverables rather than the headline fee.
How SECR sits beside the UK SRS is set out on SECR and UK SRS, and whether SECR applies at all on is SECR mandatory.
This site is an independent reference and performs no part of anyone’s compliance; readers can book a free 15-minute call to talk a situation through.
An ESOS lead assessor on an approved register, checked by the individual’s entry.
Check credentials against the specific engagement; UKAS accredits bodies rather than individual consultants.
Frequently asked
Carbon consultancy: questions people ask
What does a carbon consultancy do?
A carbon consultancy measures an organisation’s greenhouse gas emissions and helps it use the result.
The core work is a Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory built to the GHG Protocol with the DESNZ conversion factors; on top of that sit compliance figures for SECR, ESOS and PPN 006, reduction planning and, for residual emissions only, offset strategy.
What is a carbon footprint consultancy?
A carbon footprint consultancy specialises in measurement: setting the organisational boundary, collecting activity data, applying emission factors and producing an inventory with a calculation file someone else can check.
Scope 3, the fifteen value-chain categories, is usually the hardest part.
What does a carbon compliance consultancy help with?
It helps a company meet the rules that ask for carbon figures: SECR in the directors’ report for quoted companies and large unquoted companies and LLPs, ESOS for large undertakings, a Carbon Reduction Plan for central government bids under PPN 006, and for listed companies the UK SRS S2 emissions disclosures under the FCA’s comply-or-explain rules.
Who needs SECR reporting?
Quoted companies, whatever their size, and large unquoted companies and LLPs.
An unquoted company is large for SECR if it exceeds at least two of £36 million turnover, £18 million balance sheet total and 250 employees, under Schedule 7 paragraph 20B of SI 2008/410.
The 2025 uplift to the Companies Act size thresholds did not change these figures.
How much does SECR compliance cost?
The government’s 2026 post-implementation review put the total mean ongoing cost to companies at £7,100 a year.
That is the only published figure from a regulator; it is an average across companies of every complexity, not a quote, and consultancy fees are commercial and unpublished.
How does a carbon offset strategy consultancy work?
It advises on residual emissions — what remains after reductions — and on how any credits are disclosed and claimed.
Under the SBTi criteria credits never count as reductions toward a target, UK SRS S2 asks for the planned use of credits behind any net target, UK advertising guidance discourages unqualified carbon neutral claims, and in the EU offset-based product neutrality claims have been unlawful since 27 September 2026.
Should I hire a carbon consultancy or do it in-house?
Most organisations do the first inventory with outside help and later years in-house or in software.
A consultant earns its fee on judgement: the boundary, the Scope 3 screen and the method.
In-house works when the boundary is simple, the data is in reach and someone owns it.
The deciding factor is whether the first engagement hands over the calculation file and the method.
Is PAS 2060 still available?
No. BSI stopped delivering PAS 2060 from 1 January 2025 and all verifications closed at the end of 2025.
ISO 14068-1:2023 replaced it and was itself withdrawn on 11 September 2026; ISO 14068:2026 was published on that date as its replacement.
Fictional example
A fictional first inventory
A fictional business commissions an inventory while retaining ownership of its source records and assumptions.
Module 01 / 03
Brief
Specify entities, period and reporting purpose.
Module 02 / 03
Work
Reconcile activity data and document methods.
Module 03 / 03
Handover
Receive calculations and a defined update process.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
A fictional business commissions an inventory while retaining ownership of its source records and assumptions.
Editorial preparation
Four decisions before appointment
An editorial appointment record helps compare proposals without invented prices or consultancy rankings.
- 1
Purpose
Name the reporting or planning task.
- 2
Evidence
Name the records and outputs needed.
- 3
Responsibility
Name who prepares, reviews and approves.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
An editorial appointment record helps compare proposals without invented prices or consultancy rankings.
Prepare the evidence
Carbon consultancy: from a requirement to a reporting pack
Use this preparation sequence alongside the detailed requirements on this page.
An editorial workflow, not a statutory schedule.
- Stage 0101
Written brief
Specify the organisation, reporting route and decisions the advice must support.
- Stage 0202
Defined deliverables
Name the inventory, assessment, disclosure or evidence pack expected.
- Stage 0303
Source-led method
Ask how the adviser uses current primary instruments and records assumptions.
- Stage 0404
Responsibilities
Separate advice from management ownership, approval and any independent assurance.
- Stage 0505
Acceptance check
Agree how each deliverable will be reviewed and accepted.
- Stage 0606
Handover
Retain editable working files, source references and the outstanding decisions.
Read the applicable instrument: Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
A practical brief
An evidence pack, with a clear review trail
Ask for a pack that lets the next reviewer retrace the scope decision, follow the evidence and understand the limitations.
This describes a useful handover; it does not certify compliance or establish that a vendor or adviser delivers it.
Module 01 / 04
Applicability record
Write down the entity, reporting route and relevant period, including why the route applies.
Module 02 / 04
Evidence register
Attach each reported figure or statement to its source, method, version and limitations.
Module 03 / 04
Review trail
Name the preparer, reviewer, open questions and decisions taken before publication.
Module 04 / 04
Usable handover
Retain the working files and unresolved actions so the next reporting cycle can reuse the evidence.
View the preparation diagram
- Prepare01
Create the traceable pack
Keep the input records, calculation files and narrative together.
- Challenge02
Resolve questions before publication
Record the assumptions challenged and any limitations still unresolved.
- Retain03
Make the next cycle reproducible
Keep the approved version and the actions carried forward.
Continue your research
Related guides, one question at a time
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- GHG Protocol (WRI/WBCSD)Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
Boundaries, scopes and the inventory method.
- GHG Protocol (WRI/WBCSD)Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
The fifteen Scope 3 categories.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors
The UK factor set, published each year.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410, Schedule 7 Part 7A and paragraph 20B — SECR for large unquoted companies
The qualifying conditions: exceed at least two of £36m, £18m and 250 employees.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2018/1155 — the SECR Regulations, in force 1 April 2019
- Department for Business and TradeEnvironmental reporting guidelines, including SECR guidance
The method the directors’ report follows.
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero2026 post-implementation review of the SECR Regulations 2018
19,900 companies and LLPs in scope; mean ongoing cost £7,100 a year.
- legislation.gov.ukESOS Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/1643), Schedule 1 — the large-undertaking test
- legislation.gov.ukESOS Regulations 2014, regulation 12 — approved registers
The lead assessor must be on an approved register.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 Technical Standard for Carbon Reduction Plans
Scope 1 and 2 plus five Scope 3 categories.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2 (25 February 2026)
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 — ¶29(a) GHG emissions; ¶36 targets and carbon credits
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 — final rules, comply or explain from 2027
- Science Based Targets initiativeCorporate Net-Zero Standard Criteria V1.3.1, C12
Credits never count as reductions toward a target.
- Competition and Markets AuthorityGreen Claims Code (CMA146)
- Committee of Advertising PracticeAdviceOnline — Carbon offsetting and carbon neutral
Avoid unqualified claims; say whether a claim rests on offsetting.
- EUR-LexDirective (EU) 2024/825 — Annex I point 4c
Offset-based product claims unlawful in the EU from 27 September 2026.
- BSIPAS 2060 — withdrawn
- ISOISO 14068:2026 — Carbon neutrality, catalogue record
Published 11 September 2026, replacing ISO 14068-1:2023; owner catalogue checked 20 October 2026, stage 60.60.