UK Climate Disclosure Rules: What You Need to Know

United Kingdom climate disclosure at a glance

The UK government published the final UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2) on 25 February 2026, and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is consulting on making UK SRS S2 climate reporting mandatory for 515 listed companies for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, with final rules due in autumn 2026.

The UK already requires climate reporting from large companies under the Companies Act and from listed companies under the Listing Rules, so UK SRS upgrades an existing regime. Until the FCA policy statement is published, every 2027 date on this page is a proposal.

Below: what the rules require, and how to prepare.

How the UK got here: three layers of climate reporting

The UK built its climate reporting rules in three layers between 2019 and 2022, and all three remain in force.

• 2019, energy and carbon reporting. Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting requires quoted companies, large unquoted companies, and large limited liability partnerships to disclose annual energy use and Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, with an intensity ratio, for financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2019.

• 2021, listed companies. The FCA's Listing Rules require listed commercial companies to state in their annual financial report whether they have made TCFD-consistent disclosures, and to explain any gaps. Premium listed companies started with accounting periods beginning 1 January 2021, standard listed companies a year later.

• 2022, large companies. The Companies (Strategic Report) (Climate-related Financial Disclosure) Regulations 2022 require companies with more than 500 employees that are traded, quoted on AIM, banks, or insurers, or that have turnover above £500 million, to report against eight climate disclosure items for financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2022.

What the UK's climate disclosure rules require

Under the FCA's proposal, listed companies report climate-related financial information in accordance with UK SRS S2 in their annual financial report, alongside their financial statements.

• UK SRS S1 (General Requirements): the disclosure architecture. Companies report material information about sustainability-related risks and opportunities that are reasonably expected to affect cash flows, access to finance, or cost of capital. The FCA proposes comply-or-explain treatment for the non-climate parts of UK SRS S1.

• UK SRS S2 (Climate-related Disclosures): the climate-specific requirements, built on the four pillars, including absolute gross Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions in tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The FCA proposes mandatory reporting for everything in UK SRS S2 except Scope 3, which stays on a comply-or-explain basis.

• The Greenhouse Gas Protocol as the measurement standard: UK SRS S2 paragraph 29(a)(ii) requires emissions to be measured in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2004). A company that used a different method in the prior year can keep it for one period under paragraph C3.

The four UK amendments to the ISSB text: no effective date (companies apply the standards when UK law requires or when they choose to); a two-year climate-first relief for non-climate disclosures; Scope 3 and alternative-measurement reliefs with the time limit set by the FCA or Companies Act; and optional references to SASB industry standards and the GICS classification.

Who is in scope

The FCA's proposal covers five listing categories, with full UK SRS reporting applying to three of them.

Full UK SRS reporting (proposed)

• Commercial companies (UKLR 6): the main equity category since the July 2024 listing reform.

• Non-equity shares and non-voting equity shares (UKLR 16).

• Transition category (UKLR 22): former standard listed companies yet to move to the commercial companies category.

These three categories cover 515 companies with an aggregate market capitalisation of £3.8 trillion on the London Stock Exchange Main Market, according to the FCA's cost benefit analysis.

Home-jurisdiction reporting (proposed)

Companies with a secondary listing (UKLR 14) or depositary receipts (UKLR 15), 89 in total, would disclose the climate and sustainability information required in their primary listing jurisdiction or place of incorporation, plus the same assurance transparency statement.

Private companies

The government will consider whether to require private companies to report under UK SRS in a separate exercise. Its Modernising Corporate Reporting consultation, published 7 September 2026 and closing 30 November 2026, proposes no UK SRS requirements and states that the government intends to consult separately on which companies should be in scope.

Key dates and milestones

Comparative information is not required in the first period. Companies with an accounting period beginning before 1 January 2027 can keep the TCFD-aligned rules for that period or adopt the new rules early, without the transitional reliefs.

How companies should prepare

Calendar-year listed companies start measuring financial year 2027 in sixteen months, and the greenhouse gas inventory is the slowest part to build.

• Establish your greenhouse gas inventory on the GHG Protocol. Companies reporting under Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting already have Scope 1 and Scope 2 data; the gap is Scope 3 by category, and the one-year transitional relief is preparation time.

• Build assurance-ready processes early. The FCA proposes that every listed company state publicly whether it obtained assurance, and investors will read the difference. Methodology documentation, source-data traceability, and review controls need to be in place during measurement so that a limited assurance engagement is a decision, with the evidence ready.

• Build on the frameworks you already use. The four TCFD pillars carry directly into UK SRS S2, and existing Companies Act climate disclosures, CDP responses, and EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive work map onto the standard. The new work is the metrics: Scope 3, industry-specific metrics, and scenario analysis.

How Terrascope can help

Terrascope's AI-powered platform helps companies operating in the UK move from baseline emissions data to audit-ready disclosures, including Princes Group, the Liverpool-headquartered food and drink group that went from deadline crunch to SBTi-validated Forest, Land and Agriculture targets in three and a half months.

• Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions measurement. Integrations pull emissions data from your source systems monthly, so your inventory stays current across every entity in scope and every Scope 3 category you need before the relief ends.

• Audit-ready reporting. Audit Trail makes every figure traceable from data entry to disclosure, with assurance-provider access built in, so your assurance transparency statement can say "yes".

• Supply-chain intelligence. Analytics shows you where your Scope 3 hotspots sit before the comply-or-explain decision, so the transitional relief becomes reduction planning time.

• Multi-framework alignment. ISSB Reporting drafts your UK SRS S1 and S2 disclosures from your measured data, reviewed by your team, ready for the annual financial report.

Frequently asked questions

Speak to an expert

Are you ready to get ahead of the UK's UK SRS requirements? Speak to a Terrascope expert and see how we help companies move from baseline emissions data to audit-ready disclosures.