Illustrative ESG case studies
How the pieces fit together — a baseline, a Scope 3 screen, a disclosure and a plan — worked through as realistic scenarios.
mid-market manufacturer, SECR baseline to PQQ-ready in one reporting cycle
Illustrative scenario, not a named client. A privately owned manufacturer of around 320 employees across two sites had crossed the SECR thresholds and had its energy and carbon disclosure due with its next accounts, but no baseline and no in-house capability. It had also just lost a public-sector bid because it could not produce a Carbon Reduction Plan under PPN 006.
Scope of work: Two-site Scope 1 and 2 baseline to the GHG Protocol, material Scope 3 screening, SECR disclosure, SBTi-aligned near-term target and a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan
What happened
The baseline was built from meter and fuel data and a spend-based Scope 3 screen identified purchased goods and inbound logistics as the two dominant hotspots. The SECR disclosure was drafted to be assurance-ready and filed with the accounts on time. A rooftop solar and PPA option was modelled as a lever to cut market-based Scope 2, sequenced into a costed net-zero roadmap with an SBTi-aligned near-term target. A PPN 006-compliant Carbon Reduction Plan was produced and published, restoring the company's eligibility to bid for the public-sector work it had previously been shut out of. Illustrative percentages and tonnes only, no fabricated named client.
professional-services group, first TCFD-aligned disclosure without the panic
Illustrative scenario, not a named client. A professional-services group that had grown past 500 employees and 500 million pounds of turnover found itself in scope of mandatory TCFD-aligned climate-related financial disclosure for the first time, with a board nervous about getting a regulated disclosure wrong and no sustainability function.
Scope of work: Governance and materiality assessment, Scope 1 and 2 baseline, materiality-based Scope 3, and a TCFD-aligned disclosure across governance, strategy, risk management and metrics and targets
What happened
A double-materiality assessment established which climate risks and opportunities were financially significant to the group, and a governance framework gave the board the oversight structure the disclosure requires. A Scope 1 and 2 baseline plus a materiality-based view of Scope 3 (dominated, for a services firm, by purchased services, travel and data-centre use) supported the metrics-and-targets section. The disclosure was structured to the four TCFD-aligned pillars and written to survive scrutiny, and deliberately built so that a later move to the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards would be an extension rather than a fresh start. Illustrative only, no fabricated named client or figures.
large private group, Scope 3 hotspots and a supplier-engagement plan
Illustrative scenario, not a named client. A large private group already reporting Scope 1 and 2 under SECR was being pressed by its two biggest customers for Scope 3 data, because the group's emissions were part of those customers' own value-chain footprints, and had no idea where to start with a value chain spanning hundreds of suppliers.
Scope of work: GHG Protocol Scope 3 screening across the fifteen categories, hotspot prioritisation, and a phased supplier-data-engagement plan feeding an improved market-based Scope 2 position
What happened
A spend-based screen across all fifteen Scope 3 categories showed that a small number, purchased goods and services and upstream transport, drove the overwhelming majority of value-chain emissions, so effort was focused there rather than spread thin. A phased supplier-engagement plan replaced spend estimates with supplier-specific data for the highest-impact vendors first. A PPA was modelled to reduce market-based Scope 2 in parallel, honestly flagged as touching Scope 2 only. The group could give its two largest customers credible, prioritised Scope 3 information, protecting its position in their supply chains. Illustrative percentages and tonnes only, no fabricated named client.
Why illustrative, and not testimonials
ESG reporting is commercially sensitive: a company’s carbon figures, its Scope 3 hotspots and its tender position are not things it wants published. So rather than parade named clients or invented five-star reviews — which would also risk falling foul of the Competition and Markets Authority’s Green Claims Code if they were not scrupulously accurate — we show you the method through honest composites. Each one is built from the real shape of engagements we understand well: a manufacturer crossing the SECR threshold, a services group newly in TCFD scope, a large group pressed for Scope 3 by its biggest customers. The figures are illustrative, but the sequence and the decisions are exactly how the work runs.
If you want to see how any of this would apply to your own situation, the honest way to find out is a conversation, not a case study. We will tell you which duties catch you, what a baseline would involve, and what a delivered programme would look like for a business your size.