How to turn carbon reporting and compliance into a competitive business advantage

  • By Zach Crossland
    • Feb 11, 2026
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Carbon reporting

For many organisations, carbon reporting can feel like a complex and time‑consuming process, disconnected from any real commercial value

But energy costs in the UK are still stubbornly high. At the same time, key stakeholders, such as investors and customers, are expecting businesses to reduce their emissions and adopt environmentally friendly practices. The reality is also that, as we move towards net zero, regulations will keep getting tighter and tighter.

In our view, this means that carbon reporting isn’t optional anymore. It’s become a critical part of running a modern, resilient business.

We know that when organisations treat carbon reporting as a source of business intelligence (rather than a tick-box exercise), the value of the whole process becomes a lot clearer. Successful carbon reports should serve as practical roadmaps, helping to reduce costs and risks while also laying the foundations for long‑term resilience.

We have extensive experience helping businesses turn carbon reporting into a competitive advantage, particularly as more of our clients seek to improve their compliance and reduce their energy costs. Below, we’ve put together a helpful summary of our services, including:

  • Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon reporting (aligned with the GHG protocol)
  • Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) compliance
  • Audit-ready SECR reporting

Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon reporting (aligned with the GHG Protocol)

A carbon emission report essentially details a company’s total emissions broken down into scopes 1, 2 and 3, covering:

  • Scope 1 – Direct emissions from fuels, processes, and fleet vehicles
  • Scope 2 – Indirect emissions from purchased electricity and heat
  • Scope 3 – Value‑chain emissions such as suppliers, logistics, waste and travel

These three ‘scopes’ are part of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, a globally recognised framework that helps to measure and manage greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of our service, we deliver clear, robust carbon reporting aligned with the GHG Protocol, turning carbon data into trustworthy commercial insights that actually help you to make decisions, showing you:

  • Where emissions are highest
  • Which activities drive the biggest costs
  • Where reduction efforts will have the greatest financial impact

Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) compliance

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for large UK undertakings (e.g., companies with 250+ employees or an annual turnover above £44 million and a balance sheet over £38 million) that requires qualifying organisations to calculate their total energy consumption and conduct audits to identify cost-effective energy saving measures.

With ESOS Phase 4 approaching, which focuses on demonstrating action plans as well as your progress since the last audit, many organisations are facing the same challenge: how do we stay compliant without wasting time or money?

We manage the entire ESOS process for you, including qualification checks, data collection, site and transport assessments, and lead assessor sign‑off. More importantly, we focus on practical ways to help businesses to save energy, helping to turn ESOS from a regulatory burden into a genuine chance to lower your bills.

Our clients consistently uncover:

  • Avoidable energy waste
  • Inefficient operating patterns
  • Practical measures with short payback periods

Audit-ready Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)

Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) requirements mean that large businesses must report their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (scopes 1 and 2), along with an action plan to improve energy use and efficiency.

SECR reporting is increasingly visible to investors, customers and lenders. We ensure your SECR disclosures are accurate, consistent and audit‑ready, while also telling a clear story about how your organisation is managing energy and carbon.

By aligning SECR with your wider carbon and energy data, we help you present a credible, joined‑up narrative instead of just a bland compliance statement.

Energy reduction starts with visibility. By combining consumption, cost and emissions data, we help organisations clearly understand:

  • Where money is being wasted
  • Which sites or processes drive peak costs
  • How operational changes can reduce exposure

How Leyton can help

Instead of just handing you a report, we act as a single partner to manage your carbon reporting, ESOS, and SECR. We’ll make sure your data is accurate and audit-ready, taking away the administrative burden so you can spend less time worrying about rules and more time acting on the results. By showing exactly how and where you can save energy, we’ll help you lower your business energy bills and give you the confidence of knowing that your carbon reporting is completely taken care of.

So, whether you’re preparing for ESOS Phase 4, building your first scope 1–3 carbon baseline, or looking to cut energy costs while staying compliant, we’re ready to help.

We work with our clients to spot where the biggest wins are, whether that’s cutting costs, improving efficiency, or reducing emissions. This focused approach helps them move more quickly, make smarter decisions, and stay ahead of the curve in a space where many are still catching up.

Get in touch today for a no‑obligation conversation and find out how much value your energy and carbon data could unlock.

You can also find out about how our team have helped to save businesses money through energy tax relief, by viewing our case studies:

  • MetalTek: We helped METALTEK leverage energy tax relief to ease cost pressures from rising energy bills, which they then reinvested into business growth and equipment.
  • BOAL Extrusion: Through partnering with Leyton, BOAL Extrusion reduced their energy costs through the EII exemption scheme, improving their operational efficiency in their aluminium manufacturing process.

Author

Zachary Crossland
Zach Crossland

Director - Head of Energy

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