Same denominator
The new ratio sits beside last year’s as disclosed. The comparison reads cleanly.
Sch 7 ¶18, ¶18A, ¶20HSECR · the intensity ratio
SECR intensity ratio: choose it, then calculate it
The SECR intensity ratio is at least one ratio of your annual emissions to a quantifiable factor tied to your activities, stated in the directors’ report every year.
The law prescribes no ratio and no denominator, so the work is choosing one you can defend and measuring it the same way each year.
Your figures
What is your SECR intensity ratio?
Divide your annual emissions, in tonnes of CO2e, by your chosen denominator.
Enter this year’s total and denominator in the calculator beside this text, and last year’s as well if you have them, and it works the ratio and shows the change between the two years.
It takes your emissions total as a figure; it does not calculate emissions, and it holds no conversion factors.
The total comes from your own SECR calculation, built with the government’s conversion factors, and the SECR reporting guide takes you through it.
Nothing you type is stored or sent.
Intensity ratio · Sch 7 ¶17 and ¶20G
Enter this year’s emissions and denominator, both above zero, to see the ratio.
A worked aid, not advice. Nothing you enter leaves this page or is saved. Use the emissions total you report, and say in the methodology which figures it includes.
What the law says
What does the SECR intensity ratio have to be?
One emissions ratio of your choosing, in the words of ¶17 for quoted companies and ¶20G for everyone else.
The words, ¶17 and ¶20G
“The directors’ report must state at least one ratio which expresses the company’s annual emissions in relation to a quantifiable factor associated with the company’s activities.”
Paragraphs 17 and 20G are word for word the same since 1 April 2019. An LLP’s energy and carbon report takes ¶20G as modified by regulation 12B.
Four things follow from what the words leave out.
There is no prescribed ratio, so “the SECR intensity ratio” is not a legal object, and there is no prescribed denominator.
One ratio is enough, and it is an emissions ratio, not an energy one.
And no paragraph forces the same ratio every year, though the comparative duty makes a changed one awkward.
The SECR requirements page sets ¶17 and ¶20G beside the rest of Schedule 7, and the SECR overview explains the regime around it.
The denominator
Which denominator should the SECR intensity ratio use?
| Denominator | It suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| £m turnover | Almost any company: turnover is already in the accounts. | It moves with prices and disposals as well as with energy efficiency. |
| m² floor area | Property-heavy reporters: offices, retail, warehousing. | It moves with the business itself, and needs a consistent definition of area. |
| Full-time equivalent employees | Office-based and service businesses. | Headcount changes and homeworking blur the link to emissions. |
| Tonnes of product | Manufacturers with one clear unit of output. | It moves with the business itself, and a mixed product range makes a tonne hard to define. |
The DESNZ 2026 review notes that the free choice of ratio hampers comparison between reporters, which is a reason to choose one a reader can understand without help.
Choose the denominator you can measure the same way next year, and say in the report what it is and where its figure comes from.
Year on year
What happens to last year’s ratio?
It stays in the report as disclosed, so a changed denominator needs last year’s ratio worked again beside it.
From the second year, ¶20H has the report state the information “as disclosed in the report for the preceding financial year”, and the ratio is part of that information; ¶18 and ¶18A do the same for quoted companies.
A company that switches from turnover to floor area has a new ratio and an old one that cannot be compared.
The calculator’s “last year” boxes take last year’s emissions and last year’s figure for the denominator you have chosen, so if you change denominator, enter last year’s figure in the new unit and show the result if you restate.
Paragraphs 18, 18A and 20H do not say whether a restated figure may replace the original, so show it beside the figure as disclosed and say that you have done so.
Next year’s report
New denominator
Show the new ratio for both years, and say what changed and why. Last year’s original figure was disclosed on the old basis.
Good practice; no paragraph prescribes itWorked example
What does a SECR intensity ratio look like in a report?
| This year | Last year | |
|---|---|---|
| Total emissions (tCO2e) | 416 | 455 |
| Turnover (£m) | 42 | 40 |
| Intensity ratio (tCO2e per £m turnover) | 9.9 | 11.4 |
416 ÷ 42 is 9.9 and 455 ÷ 40 is 11.4, so the ratio fell.
Some of that fall is turnover rising rather than emissions falling, which is why the narrative should say what changed.
The wording that goes round the figures is on the SECR report template.
An order of work
How do you set up the SECR intensity ratio?
| Step | What to do | Where it is decided |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fix the emissions total you report, on the boundary for your population | Sch 7 ¶15, ¶20D |
| 2 | Choose a denominator you can measure the same way every year | ¶17, ¶20G |
| 3 | Divide, and keep the working with the other evidence | Your own records |
| 4 | Say in the methodology what the denominator is and where it comes from | ¶16, ¶20F |
| 5 | From year two, show last year’s ratio as disclosed, and restate beside it if you changed the denominator | ¶18, ¶18A, ¶20H |
A relief takes the ratio with it
A reporter that consumed 40,000 kWh of energy or less may leave out the ratio with the other figures, but only if the report says it is doing so for that reason.
Frequently asked
SECR intensity ratio, answered
What is a SECR intensity ratio?
At least one ratio that expresses the company’s annual emissions in relation to a quantifiable factor associated with its activities, such as tonnes of CO2e per £ million of turnover.
Schedule 7 ¶17 states it for quoted companies and ¶20G for unquoted companies and LLPs, in the same words.
Which intensity ratio should we use for SECR?
Any ratio on a quantifiable factor associated with your activities: turnover, floor area, employees or tonnes of output all qualify.
The law prescribes none, so pick the one that moves with what drives your emissions and that you can measure the same way every year.
Do we need more than one SECR intensity ratio?
No. The report must state at least one, so one is enough.
Is the SECR intensity ratio an energy ratio?
No. It is an emissions ratio: the numerator is the company’s annual emissions, in tonnes of CO2e, not its energy in kWh.
Can we change the denominator from one year to the next?
Nothing in Schedule 7 forbids it.
But the comparative duty asks for last year’s information as disclosed, so a changed denominator means the report should show last year’s ratio worked again on the new one, or the comparison tells the reader nothing.
Can we leave the intensity ratio out?
Only under a relief.
A reporter that consumed 40,000 kWh of energy or less may leave it out with the other figures, and the report must say it is doing so for that reason.
Silent omission is non-compliance.
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.
Checked against 6 sources fromlegislation.gov.ukGOV.UK (DESNZ)GOV.UK (DESNZ, Defra, BEIS)GHG Protocol
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410, Schedule 7 Part 7, ¶17 — quoted companies
The ratio duty for quoted companies, and ¶18 and ¶18A on comparatives.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410, Schedule 7 Part 7A, ¶20G — unquoted companies
The same words for unquoted companies, and ¶20H on comparatives.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/1911, regulation 12B — LLPs
Applies Part 7A to the LLP energy and carbon report.
- GOV.UK (DESNZ)2026 post-implementation review of the SECR regulations (PDF)
The review’s finding that the free choice of ratio makes comparison between reporters hard.
- GOV.UK (DESNZ, Defra, BEIS)Environmental reporting guidelines, including SECR requirements
The official guidance and its example disclosures; last updated 29 March 2019.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
The method most reporters name for the emissions in the numerator.