Project Perseus: A new era of carbon reporting for UK SMEs

Recognising this, The Perseus Project, led by Bankers for NetZero and Icebreaker One, aims to automate sustainability reporting for UK SMEs. As a starting point, Perseus is focusing on electricity data and aims to progressively incorporate additional data streams that promise significant impact. 

The project is endorsed by the Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero and is included in the UK’s Green Finance Strategy. So, we’re excited to contribute to the project and a more sustainable future.

Cogo’s role in Project Perseus

We’re proud to be members of Project Perseus, collaborating with banks, carbon experts, government, and other organisations to streamline carbon accounting for SMEs. Our contribution draws on our extensive experience delivering carbon management solutions for SMEs and banks. We are openly collaborating with industry stakeholders because we believe standardisation will drive climate action forward. 

We fully support Project Perseus’ purpose and look forward to the market-wide alignment of data-sharing principles for carbon reporting. We plan to enhance our products for SMEs with the data shared based on the Perseus framework. It will enable us to further drive SME engagement by delivering an even more seamless experience while ensuring highly accurate footprint calculation. It will also allow us to harness the granular data to deliver more personalised insights to SMEs and facilitate climate action adoption.

Cogo’s products for SMEs focus first and foremost on driving SME engagement, building understanding and carbon literacy and encouraging carbon reduction action. This is why we leverage a spend-based approach to engage SMEs to explore their carbon footprint in a matter of minutes with little to no effort. We also encourage businesses to add activity data for additional accuracy. It is currently being added by users manually. Project Perseus will enable us to further streamline the process for SMEs by automating accurate and granular activity data, such as smart meter data for electricity shared in a transparent and assured way. Delivering the enhanced solution to banks will help unlock green funding for SMEs by facilitating data sharing for improved climate-led decision-making.

This initiative is particularly advantageous for SMEs who are currently constrained by time, resources, and budgets and have concerns over data privacy.

How Project Perseus benefits banks 

The project provides banks with accurate data required to optimise green financing and deliver better support to SMEs by better managing their climate risk and auditing their loan portfolios. The data, delivered through solutions like Cogo’s Business Carbon Manager, will also enable banks to better engage and retain their customers and deliver meaningful insights and services.

Perseus will also enable banks to comply more easily with evolving climate and emissions regulations, including financed emissions reporting based on Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), which ensures that banks can compare their performance against industry benchmarks, fostering a transparent and uniform approach to carbon accounting.

Financial institutions, it's time to get involved in Project Perseus. It is set to be a transformative project in sustainable finance, offering you a chance to lead, innovate, and contribute to a greener UK economy by joining the mission.

Get in touch if you want to learn more about the project or Cogo's Business Carbon Manager