ESOS action plans: 7 important factors you might not have considered

Ricardo decarbonisation expert, Charles Gaisford explains why you need to think carefully about your ESOS action plan to ensure it is truely actionable and effective.

The dust has settled following the 5th August 2024 deadline to complete ESOS assessments covering the third phase.

Attention has now turned to completing ESOS Action Plans. These are the plans organisations are required to submit to the Environment Agency describing what energy saving actions they intend to implement over the next three years, and against which annual progress updates will have to be made.

The official deadline for submitting Action Plans is 5th December 2024 however the scheme administrators have stated organisations are permitted to complete and submit these plans until the 5th March 2025.

On the surface the action plan may seem easy enough to do. All that is required is to prepare a list of planned energy saving actions over the next three years stating the anticipated savings, intended implementation dates plus a few administrative details including getting a director to sign off on the list.

Job done?

When we dig a little deeper there is more to consider:

1.  Your action plan will be made public

The ESOS Guidance states the action plans will be made public (at present we don’t know exactly what this will look like):

• What information do you want to go out into the public domain? How does this fit with your corporate communications profile and how does it align with other publicly communicated information including Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)?
• What level of ambition do you want to communicate through your Action Plan and what are the risks if in future years you are unable to fully implement the measures?

2.    Have you secured high level buy-in?

What measures would a board director be willing to approve? 

3.    Have you done due diligence on the intended actions?

Is your understanding of each measure sufficient? For example, is it actually possible to implement the measure, is the savings potential realistic, and are the costs realistic?

4.    Capital expenditure will be required

Is there sufficient financing in place to finance the actions? Do you need to prepare a business case for action or find more economic alternatives?

5.    Do you have sufficient resource to implement the measures?

Have you factored in the time resource required? Do you or your team have the soft skills and technical skills?

6.    Who else will be impacted by the proposed measures?

Have you got buy in from the sites, fleet operators and other affected stakeholders who will have to implement the measures?

7.    How do the measures align with existing targets?

Consider energy intensity targets and decarbonisation targets. Will the measures complement your decarbonisation efforts or is there a risk of conflict; are there wider decarbonisation measures planned with which the efficiency measures must be synchronized, and how might this affect their timing?

So, in conclusion, developing an ESOS action plan might just entail a little more than initially meets the eye. 

Ricardo’s experts can help cut through the complexity and give you confidence that your plan is optimised with holistically considered efficient and effective measures that will optimise and accelerate your decarbonisation journey.

Get in touch to find out more about how we can support you.