Climate Change Agreements, ESOS & SECR
The CCA scheme running to 2033, the CCL discount it buys, and how the reporting schemes land on a food business.
10 min read · Jacob Willis, Net Zero Lead · Last reviewed July 2026
Food manufacturing is energy-intensive enough that the UK tax system treats it specially. Through a Climate Change Agreement, a food factory can claim a substantial discount on the Climate Change Levy it pays on every unit of gas and electricity, in exchange for committing to energy-efficiency targets. The scheme was renewed in the mid-2020s and now runs deep into the next decade, so this is not legacy policy: for most factories the CCA is worth real money every year, and the target it carries turns everything else in this course into a compliance asset. This lesson covers the scheme as it stands, plus how ESOS and SECR land on a food business.