This week we convened the first Project Perseus Steering Group meeting. The Steering Group is comprised of a wide range of industry leaders and subject matter experts, representing a cross section of private and public players with a unique contribution. The Steering Group will play a critical role in Project Perseus’s development, providing us with a sector perspective that ensures the project is designed for and with the finance industry and SMEs.

Organisations represented at the meeting were ICAEW, Innovate UK, Institute of Directors, Federation of Small Business, TheCityUK, UK Finance, BEIS, OECD, We Mean Business Coalition, Heriot Watt University (Tech Barriers and Finance Innovation), Bankers for Net Zero and Icebreaker One.

We discussed the group’s goals, roles and responsibilities, and the goals of the programme for 2023. We read, reviewed, and discussed the Steering Group Terms of Reference and the proposed Advisory Groups. We also discussed the importance of ensuring small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are represented either directly or via trade associations and of the main risk to the 2023 programme being the availability of people’s time and expertise for the upcoming Advisory Groups.

Key insights from the Steering Group:

  • Although the components for a solution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting for SMEs all exist in other places, the key to the success of Project Perseus is Steering and Advisory Group members defining what shape it should take to have the most impact for banks and SMEs
  • It is important that SMEs are represented in decision making either directly or through trade associations.
  • The biggest challenge to the project currently is accessing the right people with the expertise and experience needed on the Advisory Groups which will be convened in Q1 & Q2.

Call for Advisory Group members:

We are receiving expressions of interest for five Advisory Groups as part of Project Perseus and are looking for experts in the following areas:

  1. User Needs & Materiality
  2. Data Publishing
  3. Data Licensing
  4. Engagement & Communications
  5. Policy

Find more information on Project Perseus Advisory Groups here.