UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM)
HM Treasury's sustainability reporting requirements for UK central government annual reports and accounts under the FReM: the comply-or-explain principles and scope thresholds, the mandatory minimum disclosures of domestic Scope 1 and 2 emissions with energy and expenditure, carbon offsets, waste and ICT waste by destination, and potable water, the carbon accounting rules on boundaries, factors, green tariffs, offsets and Scope 3, and the duties on TCFD-aligned disclosure, UN SDG policies, sustainable procurement, nature recovery and other material topics.
UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) is a compliance framework from United Kingdom (central government) with 5 domains and 46 controls. The largest domains are Chapter 2: greenhouse gas emissions, energy, carbon offsets, Scope 3 and value chain, renewable, sequestered and embodied carbon (paragraphs 2.1 to 2.88) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) (20 controls), Chapter 5 and Annexes A to D: TCFD-aligned disclosure, UN SDG policies, materiality of other topics, sustainable procurement, nature recovery, and the differences from GGC reporting (paragraphs 5.1 to 5.17, A.1 to D.21) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) (9 controls), Chapter 1: scope, principles, comply-or-explain, de minimis thresholds, GGC alignment and the mandatory minimum reporting set (paragraphs 1.1 to 1.27, Table 1, Figure 1) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) (8 controls). Every control below carries what it requires and what an assessor expects to see.
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Framework Domains (5)
Chapter 1: scope, principles, comply-or-explain, de minimis thresholds, GGC alignment and the mandatory minimum reporting set (paragraphs 1.1 to 1.27, Table 1, Figure 1) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM)
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::1.15-1.16 | Internal targets and baselines: report the entity's own targets, align them with the national net zero and Environment Act ambitions, keep them consistent with the TCFD-aligned disclosures, and never present unpublished figures as GGC targets |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::1.18 | Distinguish metrics that count towards GGC targets from those that do not, with reconciliations and explanations of any material differences |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::1.19-1.21 | GGC exemptions do not exempt from annual report requirements: disclose the underlying metrics and internal targets, estimate where data collection is limited, and explain the nature and extent of any exemption |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::1.22-T1 | Disclose against every mandatory minimum reporting requirement in Table 1: domestic Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions with energy and expenditure, carbon offsets where used, waste by category with costs, water consumption with expenditure, and a materiality filter on overseas Scope 1 and 2 |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::1.23-1.24 | Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting: assess whether the body is within the SECR framework and align the reporting methodology with the current SECR guidance in the Environmental Reporting Guidelines |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::1.5 | Integrated reporting principles: show how sustainability is embedded in the organisation, its operations and its strategy, and follow the public sector concepts, principles and foundations set out in Appendix A |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::1.6-1.7 | Comply or explain against every requirement, and apply materiality to further sustainability information beyond the minimum set |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::1.9-1.13 | Scope and de minimis thresholds: departments always in scope, executive agencies and NDPBs in scope above 500 FTE or 500 million pounds of operating income and funding or when instructed, and every other entity still assesses materiality with its audit committee |
Chapter 2: greenhouse gas emissions, energy, carbon offsets, Scope 3 and value chain, renewable, sequestered and embodied carbon (paragraphs 2.1 to 2.88) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM)
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.12-2.16 | Set the carbon accounting boundary to match the financial reporting boundary, choose the equity share or control approach per the GHG Protocol with judgement for joint ventures, associates and leases, and apply the chosen allocation consistently across the group with explanations |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.17-2.19 | Where disclosures refer to the GHG Protocol scopes and categories, explain the three scopes and state which emission categories are included |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.20-2.24 | Minimum emissions disclosure aligned with the TCFD metrics and targets recommendation: Scope 1, Scope 2 and, if appropriate, Scope 3 emissions and related risks, with set information where material emissions fall outside the GGC measurement and where carbon offsets are used |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.25-2.27 | Financial information on emissions: report gross expenditure directly attributable to energy consumption and to accredited offset purchases, matched to the reported emissions, with breakdowns by type and material emissions-reduction spend where useful |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.28-2.31 | Presentation of emissions: support the total with a segmental breakdown, use the grid average conversion factors for electricity, show renewable tariff and offset reductions only as reconciling items from gross to net, and prepare all figures under the stated carbon accounting policies |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.32-2.37 | Energy accounting: report energy consumption and expenditure alongside emissions on a gross basis in kWh, state renewable and on-site generated energy separately rather than netting it off, follow the carbon accounting boundaries, and attach an explanatory note to any estimates |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.38-2.41-OFF | Carbon offsets mandatory minimum: where credits are purchased, held or retired, disclose the volume in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, whether they are reductions or removals, whether removals are nature-based or technology-based, and the integrity of the credits, and buy only high-integrity credits |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.42-2.45 | Baselines and double counting: set a baseline for progress measurement, reconcile and explain any re-baselining, and keep Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions separately distinguishable for consolidation |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.46-2.48 | Overseas operations and other Scope 1 and 2 emissions outside the GGC framework: where material to primary users, disclose them on a comply-or-explain basis even though they do not count towards the domestic net zero target |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.51-2.57 | Scope 3 value chain emissions: consider them and report where material, explain why voluntary information is included, weigh their lower data quality against Scope 1 and 2, and document any finance-based estimation such as travel card spend |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.58-2.61 | Other value chain arrangements: include GGC Scope 3 categories such as business travel and data centres only where material, and disclose outsourced contracts, leases and public-private partnerships that sit outside the boundary but are material to the value chain, with sufficient detail or an explanation of omissions |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.6-2.7 | Report greenhouse gas emissions in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent covering the seven Kyoto gases, on a basis consistent with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and the government's calculation guidance |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.62-2.66 | Green tariffs: account for all grid electricity, including green tariff supply, at the grid average factor; disclose an implied reduction only as a separate supplementary figure, only where the tariff meets the government's good quality criteria and the saving is additional, and never use it in totals or target measurement |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.67-2.69 | Carbon sequestration on the estate: estimate and report removals only where robust data and appropriate methods exist, follow emerging best practice, present removals clearly separately from gross emissions, and apply them only to residual emissions |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.70-2.74 | Accounting for offsets: never use carbon offsets to meet GGC targets, count only credits from approved high-integrity schemes as reductions in a published carbon account, disclose each credit type separately, and treat each unit as one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent removed or reduced |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.75-2.79 | Detailed carbon accounts and supply chain emissions: organisations publishing an inventory should liaise with suppliers on their reporting, weigh their sphere of influence over purchased goods and services, and include all supplier emissions within the budgetary boundary regardless of how suppliers classify them |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.8-2.11 | Conversion factors: use the government's factors, turn to other published factors only where none is available, note every departure in the report or on the website, and never weather-correct emissions data |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.80-2.88 | Embodied carbon and embodied finite resources: where accounted for, recognise embodied carbon on purchase and keep the accounting policy on the website; quantified reporting of embodied resources is not yet required, but best practice sets concise measurable targets, reports progress, and may cover third-party resource use affected by the entity's policies |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.S1 | Scope 1 mandatory minimum: all domestic direct emissions from sources the entity owns or controls, with gas and fuel consumption in kWh and the associated gross expenditure |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::2.S2 | Scope 2 mandatory minimum: all domestic indirect emissions from energy supplied by another party, with energy consumption in kWh and gross expenditure on purchased energy |
Chapter 3: waste, ICT and digital waste, waste costs, hazardous waste and single use items (paragraphs 3.1 to 3.16) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM)
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::3.11-3.12 | Waste financial information: report costs by waste category and total waste costs, and offset any income from waste streams against costs to show a net figure |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::3.13-3.14 | Hazardous waste and regulated materials: where material, report costs, quantities and other details such as type for hazardous waste and its disposal, and meet any regulatory reporting duties on the use or disposal of regulated resources |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::3.15-3.16 | Single use items and reuse schemes: where material, report information on single use items such as consumer single use plastics, and report the introduction and implementation of reuse schemes across the estate |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::3.ICT | ICT and digital waste mandatory minimum: report the mass in kilograms and the value returned in pounds by destination (reuse through donation within government, to charities, schools or NGOs, or sale; recycling; incineration with and without energy recovery; landfill), combinable with the main waste table where the detail stays visible |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::3.W | Waste mandatory minimum: report municipal, other and major mineral waste by mass in kilograms for each destination (recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, incineration with and without energy recovery, landfill, other), with absolute building waste totals and costs, and an explanation plus action plan where data is unavailable |
Chapter 4: finite resource consumption, potable water, other finite resources, environmental incidents and indirect water use (paragraphs 4.1 to 4.17) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM)
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::4.13 | Reportable environmental incidents: include them in the annual report where they are material to users |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::4.14-4.17 | Indirect water use where material: analyse and narratively disclose the indirect effects of activities and policies on water use including embedded water, considering suppliers' water volumes and sources, supplier engagement, and the blue, grey and green water types |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::4.4-4.8 | Water mandatory minimum: report total potable water consumption in cubic metres, broken down by source where possible (third-party supply, abstraction, collected water), with water KPIs conforming to the common requirements on boundaries, materiality, comparatives and location |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::4.9-4.12 | Other finite resources: judge materiality from the role each resource plays in strategic policy objectives and operations, honour any regulatory reporting requirement regardless of volume, and report any further resource in the same format with targets, normalisation by expenditure, spend, benchmarks and indirect-use commentary |
Chapter 5 and Annexes A to D: TCFD-aligned disclosure, UN SDG policies, materiality of other topics, sustainable procurement, nature recovery, and the differences from GGC reporting (paragraphs 5.1 to 5.17, A.1 to D.21) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM)
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::5.11-5.12 | Sustainable procurement: where material, report the systems in place and the action taken to buy sustainably, including the steps taken to embed the Government Buying Standards in contracts and to understand and reduce supply chain impacts and risks |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::5.13-5.16 | Nature recovery and biodiversity: where the body holds significant natural capital or landholdings, signpost the Natural Capital Plan or Nature Recovery Plan and report performance against it in the annual report, and report biodiversity considerations in projects and programmes where material |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::5.4-5.6 | TCFD-aligned disclosure: provide climate-related financial disclosures in the annual report in line with the TCFD Application Guidance on a comply-or-explain basis, consulting that guidance on which recommendations apply, with the emissions element handled under Chapter 2 |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::5.7-A.16 | UN Sustainable Development Goals: name the significant policies pursued on sustainability or environmental matters as the FReM requires, give a short description of each policy or a link to its specific GOV.UK page, and identify where activities contribute to relevant SDGs |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::5.8-5.10 | Other material topics: assess whether further sustainability topics are material to primary users across the value chain and sphere of influence, report them on a comply-or-explain basis, and optionally add sections on how strategy delivery depends on economic, environmental and social factors and on influence through procurement and public policy |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::D.14-D.17 | Transmission and distribution losses: no recalculation or separate categorisation is required because the factors include them, and an organisation that chooses to separate the losses should not impair users' ability to track performance against the commitment targets |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::D.19-D.21 | Other KPIs material to strategic policy objectives: reporting them is mandatory on a comply-or-explain basis, with other GGC metrics and Defra's environmental KPI guidance as sources, and the entity responsible for identifying any further regulatory, legislative or policy reporting requirements |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::D.5-D.8 | Additional Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions not measured under the GGCs, such as other fugitive releases and overseas operations: disclose them disaggregated from the Scope 1 and 2 totals assessed against commitment targets, calculated with a widely recognised independent standard where no government factor or method exists |
| uk-hm-treasury-sustainability-reporting-guidance-2026-27-frem::D.9-D.11 | Nitrogen trifluoride: report NF3 emissions where material, since the Climate Change Act GHG definition now includes it even though the current GGC commitments do not |
What is UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) and who does it apply to?
UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) is a compliance framework from United Kingdom (central government) with 5 domains and 46 controls. HM Treasury's sustainability reporting requirements for UK central government annual reports and accounts under the FReM: the comply-or-explain principles and scope thresholds, the mandatory minimum disclosures of domestic Scope 1 and 2 emissions with energy and expenditure, carbon offsets, waste and ICT waste by destination, and potable water, the carbon accounting rules on boundaries, factors, green tariffs, offsets and Scope 3, and the duties on TCFD-aligned disclosure, UN SDG policies, sustainable procurement, nature recovery and other material topics. It is used by organisations to establish and maintain compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.
What does UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) actually require?
UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) has 46 controls organised across 5 domains. The largest domains are Chapter 2: greenhouse gas emissions, energy, carbon offsets, Scope 3 and value chain, renewable, sequestered and embodied carbon (paragraphs 2.1 to 2.88) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) (20 controls), Chapter 5 and Annexes A to D: TCFD-aligned disclosure, UN SDG policies, materiality of other topics, sustainable procurement, nature recovery, and the differences from GGC reporting (paragraphs 5.1 to 5.17, A.1 to D.21) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) (9 controls), Chapter 1: scope, principles, comply-or-explain, de minimis thresholds, GGC alignment and the mandatory minimum reporting set (paragraphs 1.1 to 1.27, Table 1, Figure 1) – UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) (8 controls). Each control defines specific requirements that organisations must implement to achieve compliance.
If I already comply with another framework, how much of UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM) do I already cover?
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How do I implement UK HM Treasury Sustainability Reporting Guidance 2026-27 (FReM)?
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