Devolved extent · checked against each instrument
UK sustainability regimes by jurisdiction: company law is one, the environment is four
Which UK sustainability regimes apply where comes down to one line of the Scotland Act 1998: company law is a reserved matter, and environmental protection is not.
So SECR and the climate-disclosure duty are single UK-wide laws, while permitting, biodiversity net gain and building standards split into separate regimes for each nation.
The FCA’s UK SRS rules follow a third logic, the listing category, which also reaches companies incorporated in the Crown Dependencies.
The mechanism
Reserved company law, devolved environment
Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998, Part II, Head C, Section C1, names the reserved matter: “The creation, operation, regulation and dissolution of types of business association.”
Company law is that matter, which is why a duty built inside the Companies Act 2006 does not vary between the nations of the UK.
Environmental protection is not named in Schedule 5 at all; it falls within the Scottish Parliament’s competence under the residual rule in section 29(2)(b), because it is not reserved.
That is a structural fact, not an itemised one, and it is why environmental regimes tend to come as separate instruments for each nation, each with its own regulator.
The pattern holds for every regime checked on this page, with two stated exceptions — the UK ETS and ESOS are single UK-wide schemes outside company law — and one declared gap, MEES.
The way to check any regime is the same: open the instrument, find its extent provision, and where there is none, read the Explanatory Note or Memorandum for what it says and how firmly.
It is tempting to cite “environment is devolved under the Scotland Act 1998” as if a clause said so.
None does.
The Act reserves company law by name and devolves everything else by leaving it unreserved.
Cite the reservation, not an imagined devolution clause.
Jurisdiction finder
Pick a nation or an Island, see what applies
The finder lists twelve regimes for England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man.
Each line says whether the regime applies there, applies through a different instrument, applies by listing rather than place, or does not apply, and names the provision behind the answer.
For the Crown Dependencies it adds what each Island’s own regulator or legislature has said about sustainability reporting.
It answers where the activity or the company is; group structures, branches and listings can change the answer, which the sections below explain.
Jurisdiction finder · where is the activity?
Scotland
Applies: company law is reserved under Scotland Act 1998 Sch 5, Head C1.
Provision: SI 2018/1155 Explanatory Note; CA 2006 ss.1, 414A
Applies: the Memorandum gives England, Wales and Scotland.
Provision: SI 2022/31 Explanatory Memorandum ¶4.1; CA 2006 s.1284
The same listing test; nation makes no difference.
Provision: FCA PS26/19 ¶¶3.6, 3.12
Applies; SEPA regulates.
Provision: SI 2014/1643 as amended by SI 2026/701 reg 1(3)
Applies; SEPA is the regulator.
Provision: SI 2020/1265 art 3; DESNZ, Participating in the UK ETS
A different instrument: the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 as amended by SSI 2025/165, SEPA; SPRI return on a reg 37(1) notice.
Provision: SI 2016/1154 reg 1(2), reg 61; SSI 2018/219 reg 37; SR 2013/160 reg 32
No duty.
Provision: Environment Act 2021 s.146(6); TCPA 1990 Sch 7A ¶1(1)
Not this instrument.
Whether Scotland runs its own equivalent is not covered here.
Provision: SI 2015/962; its Explanatory Memorandum ¶5.1
Not this instrument: Scotland has its own building standards.
Provision: SI 2026/335; Building Circular 01/2026 (“Applies to England”)
No duty yet; the proposed regime is for Great Britain.
Provision: Environment Act 2021 Sch 17, s.146(6)(b); Defra 23 June 2026; Reg (EU) 2023/1115 Art 38
As in England: SI 2015/168 extends to Great Britain, Scotland included.
Provision: SI 2015/310 reg 1(2); SI 2015/168 reg 1(3)
Mandatory for receivers from January 2027.
Provision: Defra, Digital waste tracking service
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory, not a Crown Dependency, with its own Parliament; it is covered in the text, not here.
A starting list, not legal advice.
Nothing you pick is stored or sent.
Reserved → UK-wide
The company-law regimes: one law, stated in odd places
SECR and the s.414CB climate-disclosure duty both extend UK-wide, but neither says so in its own regulations.
Where each states its extent is a trap worth knowing.
| Duty | Instrument | Where the extent is stated | What it says | Firmness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SECR | SI 2008/410, as amended by SI 2018/1155 | SI 2018/1155 Explanatory Note | “These Regulations extend to the whole of the United Kingdom” | Definitive statement of the legal result |
| Climate-related financial disclosures (s.414CB) | SI 2022/31; SI 2022/46 for LLPs | SI 2022/31 Explanatory Memorandum ¶4.1 | “England, Wales and Scotland. It will also extend by agreement to Northern Ireland” | Conditional wording; the structural route through s.1284 is firmer |
| The Companies Acts generally | CA 2006 | CA 2006 s.1284 | “The Companies Acts … extend to Northern Ireland” | Operative provision |
SECR sits in Schedule 7 to SI 2008/410, inserted by SI 2018/1155, and neither instrument’s regulations 1 or 2 contain the word “extend”.
The extent statement lives in the Note: the Regulations extend to the whole of the United Kingdom, reflecting the extent of the Companies Act 2006 and the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000.
The climate disclosures in s.414CB run the same pattern a step further: no extent regulation, no Note stating one, and a Memorandum with the conditional “by agreement” wording for Northern Ireland.
In practice the duty operates UK-wide, because it is part of the Companies Act and section 1284 carries the Companies Acts into Northern Ireland; the honest description is that the instrument itself has not been shown to say so.
The ESOS and SECR comparison sets the two regimes side by side, and the SECR legislation page traces the powers behind it.
UK SRS
UK SRS follows the listing, not the nation
UK SRS S1 and S2 are standards, published by the Department for Business and Trade on 25 February 2026, and its guidance says any entity may use them voluntarily.
No Companies Act instrument requires anyone to use them, so there is no Companies Act extent provision to check for UK SRS legislation.
The only Companies Act hook is s.414CB(6), a substitution rule: where a company already publishes the required climate information through a framework, it may name the framework instead of repeating the information.
The UK SRS S2 climate standard counts as such a framework, which creates no duty to adopt it.
The duty that does exist is the FCA’s: its final rules in PS26/19 apply by listing category, so a company in UKLR 6 reports or explains wherever in the UK it is based.
The question of nation therefore does not arise for UK SRS in the way it does for permitting or planning.
The FCA’s final rules require companies listed in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22 to report against UK SRS or explain, for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
Source: FCA PS26/19 ¶¶3.6, 3.12
The stated exceptions
UK ETS and ESOS: UK-wide outside company law
| Nation | UK ETS regulator | ESOS regulator |
|---|---|---|
| England | Environment Agency (also aircraft operators registered outside the UK) | Environment Agency, also the scheme administrator |
| Wales | Natural Resources Wales | Natural Resources Wales |
| Scotland | SEPA | SEPA |
| Northern Ireland | NIEA — but Northern Ireland electricity generators remain in the EU ETS | The chief inspector, operating as NIEA |
| Offshore oil and gas | OPRED (DESNZ) | — |
The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020 is direct about its reach: article 3 says “This Order extends to the whole of the United Kingdom.”
The UK ETS is UK-wide not because of company law but because emissions trading was built as a joint scheme of the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments and Northern Ireland’s environment department.
Its regulators are still territorial, which makes it the mirror image of environmental permitting: one UK instrument with four regulators, rather than several instruments.
One carve-out matters: DESNZ says Northern Ireland electricity generators remain in the EU ETS under the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol.
ESOS is also UK-wide: the regulations, as amended by SI 2026/701, extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The ESOS legislation page sets out the enabling powers, and ESOS penalties what each regulator can impose.
Devolved → separate regimes
Where the rules split by nation
Environmental legislation is devolved, and it shows: these regimes are different laws in different places, not one scheme with regional offices.
| Regime | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental permitting | EPR 2016 | EPR 2016 (NRW) | EASR 2018 as amended by SSI 2025/165 | NISR 2013/160 |
| Pollution inventory notice | EPR reg 61(1) | EPR reg 61(1) | SPRI, reg 37(1) notice | NISR 2013/160 reg 32 |
| Biodiversity net gain | Planning condition | None | None | None |
| Future Homes and Buildings Standards | SI 2026/335 | Own regulations | Own standards | Own regulations |
| F-gas and ozone-depleting substances | GB rules | GB rules | GB rules | EU law under the Windsor Framework |
| Forest risk commodities | GB regime proposed | GB regime proposed | GB regime proposed | EU Deforestation Regulation from 30 December 2026 |
| Digital waste tracking (receivers) | October 2026 | October 2026 | January 2027 | January 2027 |
Permitting: two nations, one instrument
SI 2016/1154 reg 1(2): “These Regulations extend to England and Wales only.”
Wales has no separate permitting instrument; Natural Resources Wales regulates under this one, so Welsh permitting is not devolved in the sense Scottish and Northern Irish permitting are.
Naming traps
Northern Ireland’s instrument designates “the chief inspector”, not NIEA; NIEA is the operating name DAERA uses.
Its register is the plain “pollution inventory”, not a branded Northern Ireland inventory.
Extent is not application
Section 146(6) extends Part 6 of the Environment Act 2021 to England and Wales, but the biodiversity net gain condition itself is confined to England.
The same subsection extends Schedule 17, on forest risk commodities, to the whole UK.
Great Britain, not the UK
F-gas and ozone-depleting substances split Great Britain from Northern Ireland: SI 2015/168 extends to Great Britain, Scotland included, and reaches Northern Ireland only for import and export.
Declared gaps
What this page does not settle
MEES has no extent clause: a complete read of SI 2015/962, all 45 regulations and the Schedule, as made and as revised, found none.
Its Explanatory Memorandum says “This instrument applies to England and Wales” — “applies to”, not “extends to”, and a Memorandum is not operative.
Whether Scotland or Northern Ireland run equivalent private-rented-sector regimes of their own is a separate question this page has not researched; that is not the same as finding there are none.
No Gibraltar-specific sustainability disclosure regime, general or financial-sector, was located for this page, which is an absence of a finding rather than a finding of absence.
The SEPA episode is the general lesson: the live SPRI guidance cites a “Regulation 37(1) Notice” under the 2018 Regulations, and the amending instrument confirms that is current.
SEPA’s pages once pointed to two different notice powers for the same SPRI return.
The amending instrument, SSI 2025/165, settled it: industrial emissions moved into the 2018 Regulations, and the 2012 Regulations were revoked.
When a regulator’s own pages disagree, the instrument decides.
Outside the UK
Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and Gibraltar
None of the reasoning above reaches the Crown Dependencies, because none of them is part of the United Kingdom.
| Jersey | Guernsey | Isle of Man | Gibraltar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constitutional status | Crown Dependency | Crown Dependency | Crown Dependency | British Overseas Territory |
| Own legislature | Yes | Yes | Yes (Tynwald) | Yes (Gibraltar Parliament) |
| UK company law reaches a local company? | No (CA 2006 s.1(1)) | No | No | No |
| Own sustainability reporting position | JFSC guidance for regulated firms | GFSC: no plans for mandatory standards | Climate Change Act 2021: public bodies | None located |
| FCA UK SRS rules | By listing category | By listing category | By listing category | By listing category |
The Ministry of Justice’s fact sheet says the Crown Dependencies are not part of the UK but are self-governing dependencies of the Crown, with their own legislatures, courts and legal systems, and no representation in the UK Parliament.
Its How To Note adds that UK primary legislation does not, of itself, ordinarily apply to them; extension is rare, with their agreement, and usually by Order in Council under a “permissive extent clause”.
The Companies Act shows how narrow that is: the only Part extended to an Island is Part 28 on takeovers, to the Isle of Man by the 2008 Order.
So a company incorporated in Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man is not “a company” under s.1(1), and the strategic-report duty in s.414A that carries SECR and the climate disclosures does not reach it.
It is an overseas company under section 1044, with registration duties only if it opens a UK branch; under section 1046 the regulations “must” catch that for most overseas companies but only “may” for a Gibraltar company.
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory with its own Parliament under the Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006, not a Crown Dependency.
A UK-incorporated subsidiary of an Island parent is a company in its own right and is tested against SECR and the climate disclosures on its own facts.
The route that ignores incorporation
Listing catches what incorporation cannot
The FCA’s rules draw scope by listing category, so incorporation stops mattering for UK SRS.
A Jersey- or Guernsey-incorporated company with securities in UKLR 6 reports against UK SRS or explains exactly as a UK-incorporated one does, from periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 (PS26/19 ¶¶3.6, 3.12).
The final rules widened the consultation’s position: CP26/5 had proposed only a signposting statement for international companies with a secondary listing, and PS26/19 brings UKLR 14 and 15 into comply or explain too.
The FCA says those issuers may rely on home-jurisdiction reporting to reduce duplication where it aligns.
An Island-incorporated company that is not listed in one of the five categories remains outside both the Companies Act duties and the FCA’s rules.
Test yourself on the traps in this page with the quiz; every answer names its provision.
Jurisdiction: true or false?
The Scotland Act 1998 has a clause that devolves environmental protection to Scotland.
SI 2018/1155 contains a regulation saying SECR extends to the whole UK.
Natural Resources Wales regulates permits under the same instrument as the Environment Agency.
Northern Ireland power stations are in the UK ETS like the rest of the UK.
A Jersey-incorporated company listed in UKLR 6 reports against UK SRS or explains.
A Guernsey-incorporated parent must include SECR disclosures in a Companies Act strategic report.
Biodiversity net gain applies in Wales because Part 6 of the Environment Act extends to England and Wales.
Schedule 17 of the Environment Act extends to Northern Ireland.
0 of 8 answered.
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Terms
The words that decide extent
| Term | Where it comes from | What it means here |
|---|---|---|
| Reserved matter | Scotland Act 1998, Sch 5 | A subject kept for Westminster; company law is reserved by name at Head C1. |
| Devolved matter | Scotland Act 1998, s.29(2)(b) | Anything not reserved; environmental protection included, by omission. |
| Extent | An instrument’s own extent provision | The legal systems a law forms part of — not the same as where it applies. |
| Explanatory Note | Published with a made instrument | Non-operative, but where it states extent, as for SI 2018/1155, it states the legal result. |
| Explanatory Memorandum | Laid before Parliament by the department | A restatement; it can be more conditional than the result, as with “by agreement”. |
| Permissive extent clause | An enabling provision in a UK Act | Lets an Act be extended to a Crown Dependency by Order in Council, with its consent. |
| Overseas company | CA 2006 s.1044 | A company incorporated outside the UK; branch-triggered filing, not the accounts and reports duties. |
Frequently asked
Regimes by jurisdiction, answered
Does SECR apply in Scotland?
Yes.
Company law is reserved under the Scotland Act 1998, and SECR sits inside the Companies Act framework.
The amending instrument, SI 2018/1155, has no extent regulation of its own, but its Explanatory Note says it extends to the whole of the United Kingdom, reflecting the extent of the Companies Act 2006 and the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000.
Does the climate-disclosure duty in s.414CB apply in Northern Ireland?
In practice, yes.
SI 2022/31 states no extent in its own regulations; its Explanatory Memorandum says England, Wales and Scotland, extending “by agreement” to Northern Ireland.
The firmer route is structural: s.414CB is part of the Companies Act 2006, and section 1284 extends the Companies Acts to Northern Ireland.
Is ESOS a UK-wide scheme?
Yes.
The ESOS Regulations as amended by SI 2026/701 extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Environment Agency is the scheme administrator, with Natural Resources Wales, SEPA and Northern Ireland’s chief inspector (operating as NIEA) regulating in their nations.
Is environmental permitting the same across the UK?
No. The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 extend to England and Wales only, with Natural Resources Wales regulating Welsh sites under the same instrument.
Scotland uses the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 as amended by SSI 2025/165, administered by SEPA.
Northern Ireland uses the Pollution Prevention and Control (Industrial Emissions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013.
Does UK SRS apply differently in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?
No. The only UK SRS reporting duty is the FCA’s, in PS26/19, and it applies by listing category — UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22, comply or explain, for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 — not by nation.
No Companies Act instrument mandates UK SRS; s.414CB(6) only lets a company name a framework it already uses.
Does MEES apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland?
Not under SI 2015/962.
That instrument has no extent clause anywhere in its text, and its Explanatory Memorandum says it applies to England and Wales.
Whether Scotland or Northern Ireland run equivalent private-rented-sector regimes of their own is not covered on this page and should not be assumed either way.
Does UK sustainability law reach a company incorporated in Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man?
Not through its incorporation.
Companies Act 2006 s.1(1) defines a company as one formed and registered under that Act, so an Island-incorporated company is outside the strategic-report duty that carries SECR and the climate disclosures.
A UK-incorporated subsidiary is tested on its own facts.
The FCA’s rules take a different route: a company with securities in one of the five listing categories reports against UK SRS or explains, wherever it is incorporated.
Do the Crown Dependencies have their own sustainability reporting rules?
Not a general corporate regime.
The Isle of Man’s Climate Change Act 2021 places climate duties and annual reporting on public bodies.
Guernsey’s financial regulator has said it has no plans to implement mandatory sustainability disclosure standards for regulated financial services.
Jersey’s regulator issues sustainable finance guidance under its existing codes for regulated firms.
Is Gibraltar a Crown Dependency?
No. Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory with its own Parliament under the Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006.
The Crown Dependencies are Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
Gibraltar companies are overseas companies under the Companies Act, and are treated more lightly even than other overseas companies when they open a UK branch.
Which UK sustainability legislation applies everywhere in the UK?
The company-law duties (SECR and the s.414CB climate disclosures), ESOS and the UK ETS — though Northern Ireland electricity generators remain in the EU ETS.
The FCA’s UK SRS rules apply by listing, not place.
Environmental permitting, biodiversity net gain, building standards, MEES and F-gas controls differ by nation.
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.
- legislation.gov.ukScotland Act 1998, Schedule 5, Part II, Head C, Section C1
The reservation of company law: “types of business association”.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2018/1155, Explanatory Note
SECR extends to the whole of the United Kingdom; the instrument itself has no extent regulation.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2022/31, Explanatory Memorandum ¶4.1
The climate-disclosure duty’s extent: England, Wales and Scotland, and “by agreement” Northern Ireland.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 1284
The Companies Acts extend to Northern Ireland.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 414CB(6)
A substitution rule for frameworks already used, not a mandate to use UK SRS.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 1(1) and (3)
“Company” means one formed and registered under the Act.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 414A(1)
The strategic-report duty is a duty of “the directors of a company”.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, sections 1044 and 1046
Overseas companies; the “must” for a UK branch, and the “may” for a Gibraltar company.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2020/1265, article 3
The UK ETS Order extends to the whole of the United Kingdom.
- GOV.UK (DESNZ)Participating in the UK ETS
The regulator in each nation, and Northern Ireland electricity generators in the EU ETS.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/701
ESOS extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2016/1154, regulation 1(2)–(3)
“These Regulations extend to England and Wales only.”
- legislation.gov.ukSSI 2025/165, regulation 6
Brings industrial emissions into the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018.
- SEPAScottish Pollutant Release Inventory
The “Regulation 37(1) Notice” that triggers a SPRI return.
- legislation.gov.ukPollution Prevention and Control (Industrial Emissions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013
Northern Ireland’s own instrument; the regulator is “the chief inspector”.
- legislation.gov.ukEnvironment Act 2021, section 146(6)
Part 6 extends to England and Wales; Schedule 17 (forest risk) to the whole UK.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2015/962, Explanatory Memorandum §5.1
MEES: “This instrument applies to England and Wales.”
- legislation.gov.ukThe Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015, regulation 1(2)
Reaches Northern Ireland only for import, export and GB–NI trade.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations 2015, regulation 1(3)
Extends to Great Britain; Northern Ireland only for import and export.
- Ministry of JusticeFact sheet on the UK’s relationship with the Crown Dependencies (February 2020)
Not part of the UK; the permissive extent clause.
- Ministry of JusticeHow To Note: Extension of UK primary legislation to the Crown Dependencies
UK primary legislation does not ordinarily apply to them.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006 (Extension of Takeover Panel Provisions) (Isle of Man) Order 2008
The one Part of the Act extended to an Island.
- Government of GibraltarGibraltar Constitution Order 2006, sections 24 and 32
Gibraltar’s own legislature.
- Tynwald (Isle of Man)Climate Change Act 2021
Climate change duties on public bodies.
- Guernsey Financial Services CommissionSustainability reporting in the Bailiwick of Guernsey: feedback paper
No plans for mandatory sustainability disclosure standards for regulated financial services.
- Jersey Financial Services CommissionSustainable finance
Guidance under existing codes for regulated firms.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19: Aligning listed issuers' sustainability disclosures with international standards
The listing-category route, whatever the place of incorporation.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 (PDF), ¶¶3.6–3.7 and 3.12
Five categories in, six out; periods from 1 January 2027.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityCP26/5 (PDF), ¶¶1.8 and 9.2
The consultation the final rules replaced, and its treatment of secondary listings.
- Department for Business and TradeUK Sustainability Reporting Standards — guidance
The standards are available for voluntary use by any entity.
- GOV.UK (Defra)Digital waste tracking service
Different start dates for receivers in each nation.
- GOV.UK (Defra)The UK’s approach to deforestation regulations
A Great Britain regime proposed; the EUDR in Northern Ireland.
Continue reading
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