Compulsory emissions reporting for UK businesses

An amendment to the Climate Change Bill means that all UK-based publicly-traded companies will be required to include carbon emissions in their annual reports.

The amendment, passed by the House of Lords, means that business will have to work out their total emissions, including everything from vehicle use to heating workplaces.

Environmental campaigners have long been calling for this change in the law, as they believe that compulsory emissions reporting creates a level playing field for all businesses, making firms more accountable to customers and more likely to think about how they can reduce emissions.

However, critics of the amendment say that this will merely add to the already excessive levels of bureaucratic paperwork that companies have to put up with

The Conservative spokesperson for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, Alan Duncan, said that carbon reporting is great idea in theory, but will be impossible to implement in practice, not least because there is no standard auditing process for carbon emissions.

The Climate Change Bill, complete with amendments, is due to be presented at the House of Commons within the next month. MPs could vote against the amendment, but that is thought to be unlikely.